Four Heroes
by Adam Rook
Summary: An AU in which all four heroes come from the same world and are all good friends. I also messed with their ages and personalities a tiny bit. So, in short, the three offensive heroes aren't as stupid.
1. 1 - The Royal Summoning

"Fantastic! The summoning has been a succes!" - he heard a voice.

Naofumi Iwatani. That's his name. He is your standard japanese isekai protagonist before going to a different world (read: shut-in neet).

However! He wasn't a _total_ loser! He sometimes went outside! He even had actual friends!

When it comes to his personality he was generally easy-going and he was maybe a little bit naive. Other than that he was pretty quiet most of the time.

So... what happened? Last thing he remembers was...

...right...

That day his friend, Ren, had turned 18 and they together with two other friends went out to town to celebrate. Three of his friends got drunk, forcing Naofumi to drive them all home. (car wasn't his.)

Unfortunately he completely failed. Like, you couldn't fail more. He crashed the car and killed them all.

And here he is now. In one second he sees that truck that was about to hit them, in the very next second he was laying on some stone floor, and now he was hearing this voice.

"Brave heroes! Would you please save our world from pure evil?"

"What?" - a united voice of four young men answered, Naofumi's mixed into it as well.

Iwatani looked around, he noticed all three of his friends being next to him, they looked just as confused as him.

A tall blonde guy with long hair tied into a ponytail, wearing a red, checked shirt and mustard jeans. He was also holding some sort of a spear in his hands. Motoyasu Kitamura.

A slightly shorter guy with straight black hair and blue eyes, dressed in a blue blouse and black trousers. Vielding a short sword, Ren Amaki.

Finally, the shortest and youngest out of all of them, Itsuki Kawasumi, who was now holding some sort of a bow. He had blonde hair and bright green eyes, almost yellow in fact. He was dressed in his school uniform since he didn't have any better clothes, and he didn't know how to dress up for his friend's birthday.

They had many differences between each other, but they all had one thing in common: They liked MMO RPG games. They spent countless hours playing together through the internet, and ever since Motoyasu and Naofumi became flatmates (they went to the same college) the four of them often met to play DnD.

"Guys!" - he called to them, happy to see them alive.

"Ugh... What happened?" - Ren said while grabbing his head.

"Naofumi... where the hell did you bring us while we were blasted?" - Motoyasu, Naofumi's flatmate and best bro for life asked.

"...I'm never drinking again..." - Itsuki said, while looking a little bit pale.

"Guys..I-I..W-we...S-sorry..." - Naofumi had no idea what to say. He wanted to apologise, but... they are all alive? Is there anything to apologise for?

"Save it for later, I think I know what's going on..." - Ren said to him after raising his hand to stop him.

Ren was very stoic, he barely showed any emotions. That said, Naofumi and the other two learned to tell what mood is he truly in. And Naofumi could tell Ren wasn't angry at all, which confused him.

"Plese, oh brave heroes. Our world is in dire need for saving." - that guy started his rant again. He was wearing some sort of a ceremonial robe, which only added to the confusion.

Oh, that bunch of hooded figures behind him with the same robes didn't help at all.

Motoyasu, who carefully looked around already, gasped and quietly said: "Oh my God! I think I know what happened too!" - he said with a smile.

"What do you mean?" - Itsuki asked while scretching the bow's string.

"We got Isekai'd" - Ren answered.

Itsuki's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. In all of this shock he also released the chord, which struck him in his wrist, making him drop the weapon and hiss in pain.

"What!?" - Naofumi asked noone in particular.

"Best. Birthday. Ever." - Ren said slowly with a smile on his face like nobody ever saw before.

Naofumi, looked around. Indeed, it really looked like they were in some sort of a medieval castle like in tales and mangas.

The robe guy cleared his throat to get their attention and started his speech:

"You are the four cardinal heroes, and you have been summoned using an ancient ritual. Our world is in the most fragile state, and is currently on the verge of destruction. So we beg you, heroes, please, lend us your aid!" - he bowed after finishing, and hooded figures behind him did the same.

"What do we get for helping you guys?" - Ren's answer surprised Naofumi.

"What type of guarantee do we get that you won't simply throw us away after we fix your mess?" - Itsuki added.

'Ohhh... Fair point.' - Naofumi, altough he didn't like it, had to agree.

"You can send us back to our homeworld, right?" - Motoyasu.

"G-good heroes! Before anything, let me take you to our king, and let us agree upon your rewards with him!"

"Alright, take us there." - Ren said with emotionless voice and face. But after he turned to others he was smiling. - "You guys going?"

"Of course!" - Itsuki said with a smile

"Right behind you!" - Motoyasu added while resting his spear on his shoulder.

Naofumi who was still dumfounded stood still however. Once the other three realised that they called out to him, waking him up from his thoughts.

_***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/***_

They were now in the throne room. Very big and spacious, walls and columns made out of marble, with big windows and red carpet inf front of a big throne, which was occupied by the king himself.

"So, you are the four heroes of ancient legends?" - king started, he was a man who looked a bit old, with long gray hair, a beard and purple eyes. His face looked a bit scary, but he sounded polite. He was dressed in purple robes, he had many rings on his fingers and on his head he had a golden crown with a big purple crystal within. - "This is the land of Merlomarc, and I am her king, Aultcray Merlomarc XXXII. Welcome, brave heroes. Please, identify yourselves."

"Ren Amaki. I'm a high school student and I'm 18 years old."

"Motoyasu Kitamura. College student, 21."

"I suppose I'm up next. Itsuki Kawasumi, still in high school, and I'm 16."

Naofumi sighed, they all seemed happy like kids.

"Guess that leaves me, my name is-..." - he has been cut short by the king.

"Good. Ren, Motoyasu and Itsu-..." - In return however, the king has been short by Itsuki.

"Excuse me, king, but you have skipped on our colleague." - He said while pointing at Iwatani.

Ren nodded while Motoyasu hummed.

"Thanks." - Naofumi said.

"You're welcome."

"Ahh, yes, please forgive me." - king said. Altough there was no actual regret or shame in his words.

"Alright... My name is Naofumi Iwatani, college student. 20 years old."

"Now then, I suppose I owe you four an explanation...-" - the king started. - "Lately our world has been haunted by a series of natural disasters known as 'Waves'. Every few months or so a number of cracks in the sky will open and an army of demonic monsters emerge from them, spreading chaos and misery everywhere. The only way to stop a 'wave' is to defeat its 'Boss' which is a term we use to describe the most powerful enemy of the 'wave'. Last wave happened about a month ago. We send our knights to fight, and altough in the end we won we suffered giant losses. On top of that the 'waves' are known for the fact that each is harder than the previous one. That's why once we realised that we couldn't defend ourselves, we knew we had to summon the four legendary heroes."

"Of course, if you succed, you will be handsomely rewarded." - Some noble added.

Naofumi's friends showed their approvance by humming and nodding.

"Now, if we have reached an agreement, I would like to ask you to check your statuses."

Status? What's that?

"Wait, what's a 'status'?" - Naofumi had to ask.

"Yeah, exactly?" - Itsuki joined.

"Are you guys dense? It should have been the very first thing you noticed when we got here." - Ren answered/scoffed - "See that icon in the bottom right corner of your vision? It's kinda like a menu. Try focusing your eyesight on it."

Looking there Naofumi noticed, that, in fact, there was some green square icon there. He focused his vision on it, and after a short while a big holographic menu popped up in front of him, showing him his statistics and level. His current level being a mere '1'.

Naofumi Iwatani: Shield Hero LV.1

Equipment: Small Shield (legendary weapon), otherwordly clothes

As for statistics, he couldn't know wether they were high or low, but he could see that his 'build' was meant for defense, in fact, his 'attack' statistic was standing at '1'

"What's all of this stuff?" - he asked.

"It's called 'Status Magic', an ability exclusive to heroes." - the noble answered.

"So where do we go? What's the first step?" - Ren asked, altough his voice emotionless, his friends could feel his impatience.

"You will set off to an adventure, to develop and upgrade those legendary weapons you have been equipped with."

'"Upgrade' legendary weapons? What does that mean? Shouldn't they be maxed out already? Also, mine is not even a weapon technically!" - Naofumi complained after noticing his 'weapon' was a small, plain-looking pointed shield on his right forearm.

Motoyasu spinned his spear around and said:

"Can't we just use some other weapons till these are usable?" - a very good point!

"I suppose we will have to figure it out as we go. Also it looks like we've got a lot of training ahead of us." - Ren gave his two cents.

"We will have to level up nice and fast!" - Itsuki added.

"Then once the four of us feel strong enough we can form a party and-..." - Naofumi's been cut short once again.

"One moment, brave heroes, I've neglected to mention, you must each recruit allies and adventure separately."

"And why is that?"

"It is said that by their very nature the legendary weapons repell one another, If you will try to work together it will apparently hinder their development."

At that moment on Naofumi's 'screen' an announcement popped up:

_**Help: "When two or more legendary weapon vielders operate together, it causes an adverse reaction in the weapons. Working separately is highly advised."**_

'...What does that even mean?' - Naofumi said in his mind.

"Since the sun is about ot set tonight. Go and rest, and begin your quest tomorrow. We will gather the finest warriors for your allies in the meantime." - King announced.

At that moment a certain lady in an orange dress came closer to them and said: "We have quarters prepared for you. Please, sirs, right this way." - she said and pointed in the direction of some hallway.

_***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/***_

"I guess when you're the hero of legend you get special treatment. That girl who lead us here was cute!" - Motoyasu started.

All three of them ignored the last part, they all knew way too well that Motoyasu was a womanizer. Pretty annoying trait, and they had to admit they were super jealous of their friend's adventures with the opposite sex, but other than that it was pretty much his only real flaw.

They were now in their quarters. A pretty big living room with a table full of expensive food and a fireplace which was burning at the moment. It was also connected to four separate bedrooms for all of them.

Ren, who was looking at his reflection in his sword's blue gem quielty said:

"I still can't believe we got Isekai'd"

Naofumi had to agree. Who would have known that this is what awaited them after dea-...

...right...

His smile disappeared and he looked at the ground.

"I'm sorry guys. I killed all of you. You trusted me and I failed all of you."

The other three were dumbfounded - 'What's he talking about?'

"What do you mean?" - Itsuki asked.

"I crashed while I was driving with the three of you."

The other three looked at each other and started laughing.

Naofumi, only confused at that moment looked at them.

After calming down Ren came closer, put his arm on his shoulder and said with a smile: "I do not blame you for what happened."

"Me neither!" - Itsuki.

"Bro! We got isekai'd! That's like, dream come true!" - Motoyasu.

"...So...You're not angry?"

"Dude." - Ren put his other arm on his other shoulder and looked right into his eyes - "I know it may sound weird, but this is the BEST birthday present I have ever gotten. No joke."

Naofumi felt a bit uncomfortable at the thought that the fact that he killed his friend was regarded as a 'present'.

"So don't you dare ruin this for me and let your guilt distract you from what we're supposed to do here - which is saving the god damn world - do you understand?"

Naofumi smiled. Even though they forgave him, he still hasn't forgiven himself.

"Alright. You are right, saving this world should be our priority..."

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" - Motoyasu cheered.

Itsuki chuckled and started his own topic: "Okay guys, since we got that out of the way how about we talk about our weapons for a bit? I still don't quite understand how they work."

"I guess it's quite complicated, so let me tell you what I know so far." - Ren started, gaining everyone's attention.

"You see, the reason why they are regarded as all-powerful even though they are pretty weak at this point in time is that, as we've been told, they can grow stronger and evolve as we go, right?"

The other three hummed and/or nodded in response.

"The way it works is quite interesting, in order to upgrade your weapon you need 'materials' and let your weapon absorb them to gain their powers. For example, if I absorbed a ... let's say a gold bar, my sword would permamently increase some of its stats AND unlock a new form, most likely something like "Golden Sword" which would have its own set of abilities. You can unlock an nigh-infinte amount of forms for your weapons and switch between them at any time, all you need to do is to let your weapon unlock a new form by absorbing some 'material' and you are good to go. You should be able to see some kind of a skilltree in your 'menu' and you'll understand." - Ren explained

The other three started looking in their 'menus' and viewed their skilltrees. Naofumi's being green, Motoyasu's red and Itsuki's yellow. Ren's was blue.

"Whoah! There is so many!" - Naofumi said, flabbergasted by the humongous size of his skilltree.

"...Which brings us to the next topic, which is how Naofumi's gonna fight without our help. He is a shielder after all." - Motoyasu started.

"What do you mean?" - Iwatani asked.

"You are a shielder, meaning that you have stupidly high defense, but almost zero attack, am I right?"

"Well, yeah..."

"So during the waves when we will fight together we should be OK, but how are you going to prepare yourself for them without any options to attack?" - Motoyasu said, honestly worried.

Naofumi wanted to respond, but Ren was quicker.

"No need to worry, keep in mind we will be given strong companions tomorrow, they will be able to help him."

"Plus, there is a ton of ways in which you can use a shield to deal damage." - Itsuki added.

"Really?" - Naofumi asked.

"Yeah, I can't see your skilltree, but I'm pretty sure you have a 'thorns' or 'deflect' shield somewhere in there."

"Well... since all of them are still locked I can't really know for sure, but it does sound very likely to be the case." - Naofumi said with a smile. For a moment he thought he will be only dead weight to others.

"Don't get me wrong Naofumi, I've never said that I think that you are weak. Keep in mind that you are a shielder, so your main job is to not deal damage but keep your teammates alive by becoming a tank. With your stupidly high defense you should soak up all the damage from enemies while your teammates will slowly kill them."

"That... sounds kinda lame, to be honest."

"Yeah, hehe, but your job is arguably the most important one, because unlike us, you are not meant to take lives, but to save them."

Ren nodded while Itsuki hummed in agreement.

That... somehow gave Naofumi all the encouragment he needed. But there was still one thing he didn't quite understand.

"Thanks guys, but there is still something I don't understand. Ren, you said that our weapons can absorb 'materials' but what exactly classifies as one?"

Ren grabbed his chin and thought for a second.

"That...I don't know. Funnily enough simply absorbing everything you can will probably be the best option." - to confirm this he grabbed a lit candle from the table and moved it close to his sword's gem. A flash of blue light and the candle was gone.

_**Candle Sword unlocked.**_

_**MP + 1**_

_**Passive Bonus: Shadow Resistance (minor)**_

_**Equip Skill: Small Torch**_

In order to demonstrate exactly how it works Ren transfromed his sword into its newly unlocked form and used the equip skill, which simply created some light to see in the darkness.

Other three heroes watched as Ren's holy sword changed its appearance completely - now it looked like a regular iron shortsword with its blade covered in half-melted wax, with a lit candle at the end of the blade.

"Whoah" - their combined gasps.

After that each of them grabbed a candle of their own and did the same.

_**Candle Spear unlocked.**_

_**Candle Shield unlocked.**_

_**Candle Bow unlocked.**_

"Whoah this is so cool!"

"So, any more questions / things we should discuss?"

"Nah, the king should explain everything more tomorrow, so I think that we should just call it a day and get a good night's sleep so that we can start the next day fresh and full of energy!" - Itsuki said with a smile

"Agreed" - Ren

"Nighty night then!" - Motoyasu

The three offensive heroes left to their respective rooms leaving Naoufumi alone with his thoughts.

'I'm now in a different world... new world... I got isekai'd... Everything looks like a game... But this is real... And now this entire world is counting on me...no, on _us_ to save it... But... How can I save lives if I couldn't even drive my friends safely home? How can _they_ still trust me? Sure, getting Isekai'd was something I always wanted even though I thought it would be impossible... And here I am...' - At that moment he looked at his reflection in his shield's green gem - 'Can I do it?... NO...I HAVE TO do it... I failed once, but I got a second chance, something that doesn't happen very often, and I'm sure as hell I won't fail again! I won't fail my friends and I won't fail this world! I will take all the hits for them, hell, I'll even DIE for them if I'll have to! ... As Motoyasu said, It's my job to _SAVE_ lives, not to take them!' - with newly found determination Naofumi went to sleep as well.

_***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/***_

Next day came.

The four heroes were now back in the throne room, standing in front of the king. After a short while of awkward silence a bunch of people in varying clothing came in. After looking at them Naofumi and the other three realised that those were the adventurers they were promised to be given as party members yesterday. The group was very diverse, ranging from big and muscular barbarian-looking types to small girls who looked like some sort of mages.

"These people are the adventurers that have been chosen to give their aid to heroes on their journeys."

The heores merely nodded/hummed in response.

The king however smirked and added this:

"These people have already decided who they want to travel with."

Altough a bit surprised to hear that, the four heroes accepted that - 'it's only fair' - they guessed.

After a few minutes of adventurers choosing their heroes Naofumi counted the results:

Ren - five people

Itsuki - three people

Motoyasu - four people, all female on top of that (Motherfu-..!)

Naofumi himself - ...

"NOBODY!?" - he practically shouted.

"To think this would come to this... The shield hero doesn't seem very popular..." - the king said with neutral tone. But Naofumi could just _feel_ the sass.

"Please excuse me, your majesty, but this doesn't seem very fair." - Itsuki said

"I have no control over the adventurers' choices." - he responded.

Naofumi looked with pleading eyes at his friends. They understood him and tried to persuade their soon-to-be party members in their own respective ways:

"Anybody who will not keep up will be left behind." - Ren said with a harsh tone to his teammates, but nobody left him.

"Are you sure you don't want to follow the shield hero? I'm sure he would be better at protecting you guys than me." - Itsuki tried to persuade, but failed.

"I can promise you ladies that my friend shield will treat you with respect and protect you from any danger, you sure you don't want him?" - Ughh... Motoyasu...

Suddenly something completely unexpected happened - a girl from Motoyasu's group, and a beautiful one at that, raised her hand and said:

"I will!" - The red haired girl in light armor said, causing everyone in the room, including Naofumi to think 'Wait, really?'. She then moved closer to the shield hero and with a smile on her face said:

"Doesn't your heart just bleed? To think of him out there all alone? I'm Myne Suphia, Nice to meet you, hero!" - her voice was so sweet... _almost too sweet_.

"U-Umm...N-nice to meet..y-you." - Naofumi, as any virgin otaku got a little bit nervous.

"Does anybody else wish to join the shield?" - king said.

After it was clear that nobody else wanted to go with him king said:

"As I promised you yesterday I will give each of you a big amount of money to start off your adventures. 500 silver coins each, to be exact."

"Please forgive me, your majesty, but if that's the case then it's only fair to give our friend, the shield, a bit more to cover the cost of recruiting some party members on his own." - Itsuki started

"That is correct. We all need to strengthen ourselves and if we will leave the two of them alone they may have trouble levelling up." - Ren added.

The king looked at them for a second and said with a neutral tone: "Very well, the shield hero will receive 800 silver coins, but only this one time."

Naofumi sighed in relief and thanked his friends for that.

'It really feels like this entire world is against me, thank goodness I still have my friends to back me up.' - he thought. - 'That girl will be a huge help too!'

"Now that everything is settled, oh brave heroes, please set off on your adventures to grow stronger in order to fight the waves. I wish all of you the best of luck."- the king finished their conference.

They all left the hall with their respective parties.

As they were leaving the castle they started chatting.

"And so our epic adventure begins!" - Itsuki said with a smile.

"Yes. I wish all of you the best of luck." - Ren said coldly, but they were used to it.

"Who needs luck when we got those legendary weapons?" - Motoyasu said.

"Hmmm... yeah, especially since I can't even attack!" - Naofumi said jokingly, causing all four of them to laugh.

"Oh, c'mon, I'm sure such a hacker like you will find a way around this!" - Motoyasu joked, referring to the fact that when they all played videogames Naofumi was usually the best of them, so the other three often joked that he was hacking.

"Who knows!? Maybe I will!" - Shield answered with a joke of his own.

After they stopped laughing it was finally time to separate.

They wished each other luck and bid their farewells.

_***/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/***_

_**Ok, so here are a few words of explanation:**_

_**\- I have read the entirety of manga and watched all of the anime, but I haven't read the light novel.**_

_**-I was like: "Dude, i wish the three heroes were less stupid and actually helped out Naofumi a bit"**_

_**-After searching for a fic like that I haven't found anything, so I wrote this, and plan on continuing it**_

_**-I messed a bit with their personalities and ages, but overall they still should be similiar to originals (all four heroes)**_

_**-Also this fic will not only focus around Naofumi, but all four heroes instead, switching in between all of their POV's**_

_**-Rape accusation will still happen and Shield will still be hated by everyone... except the other heroes this time... what will they do exactly? I wish I knew already.**_

_**As always, feel free to ask me whatever you would like to know, leave a suggestion or two and share your thoughts via review.**_

_**Anyway, I hope you liked it.**_

_**Cya.**_


	2. 2 - First day of many

It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and there were very few clouds in the sky. The streets of this medieval city were full of people just minding their own business. And through those crowds of people a pair of young adventurers tried to move forward.

"Soo... Myne..." - our favourite shielder started, gaining his companion's attention - "Where should we start?"

She smiled and said: "Well, it only makes sense to buy ourselves some gear and weapons!"

'Yeah, obviously...' - he scolded himself in his mind.

They walked down the street for a moment, until Naofumi noticed a shop with a shield and a sword emblem above the doors. Looking through the windows he noticed many different weapons and armor sets laying on the shelves, confirming his suspicion that it was a blacksmith's shop.

"How about we look around here?" - he asked.

"Great idea, hero!"

'...damn, this girl seems a little bit too polite... but I guess I'm the legendary hero, so I'm some sort of a celebrity here.' - he thought.

They entered inside, causing the bell above the door to ring, which, in return gained blacksmith's attention to them.

"Welcome!" - the blacksmith said. He was a middle-aged man, very muscular. He had a couple of scars on his face, making Naofumi think that he was most likely some war veteran. The man was bald and he had a black, spiky beard. That description probably made him look scary, but the man's welcoming smile combined with his joyful eyes made the shield hero feel like this man was his old friend, in fact, he felt like he just visited his uncle.

"This is your first time here, customer?" - Blacksmith asked.

"I...uh..." - he got nervous again.

"What are you looking for?" - Smith's soft smile calmed him down however.

"Well..."

"You don't know, do you?"

"...Well, no..."

Blacksmith laughed a bit and disappeared into the backroom, after a while he brought a packaging with some weapons inside, and unfolded it in front of him, revealing a bunch of different swords.

"If you don't have any particular weapon you are good with, why not start with a sword? The ones before you are all made from different materials, which affects the price. Speaking of, what's your budget like?"

"We can probably afford to spend up to 250 silver coins." - Myne answered for him - "We should probably keep it to that, since we have other stuff to get too." - she added.

Naofumi nodded, and reached for one of these swords.

However, the moment he grabbed it he felt shocked, as if he got electrocuted, which forced him to throw the weapon down. The sword fell on the floor with a loud 'clank'.

"What do you think you are doing!?" - the smith shouted with a frown. Being nice to customers is important, but this one just possibly damaged one of his goods.

Naofumi however didn't respond. His attention was occupied by a message that appeared on his 'HUD'.

**_Legendary weapon rule violation:_**

**_The heroes may not use any weapons with an intent to fight, other than their assigned legendary weapons._**

'What!? I can't use any weapons!? But how am I supposed to attack!? I knew my attack was low, but I didn't know it is actually ZERO!' - he said in his mind.

After apologising to the blacksmith he explained the situation to him.

"Wait! You are the shield hero!? If that's the case then I couldn't possibly ask for any money from you!" - the abashed muscular man said.

All of this embarrassed the shield, he wasn't used to this type of treatment.

"Thank you, old man, but I can't just take your stuff for free..." - he said while scratching the back of his head.

"But, surely there must be a way for me to help you out!" - the blacksmith smiled.

"Well... There is one thing I guess" - Iwatani answered.

"Anything for a legendary hero!"

"Do you perhaps have some raw materials?"

"Of course I do! If I may ask, what do you need them for?"

"My shield has this cool gimmick that it can absorb things to grow stronger."

"Is that so? Care if I take a look?" - he said while pointing at the shield.

"Well I can't take it off, but sure." - after that he simply reached with his right arm to him, exposing the shield in question.

The smith looked at it from every angle, and then put on some weird monocle. He inspected the shield again, and even stared a bit at the green gem. Naofumi was okay with it, it was obvious that a blacksmith would be interested in a legendary weapon.

Once the blacksmith finished he hid his monocle and chuckled: "Yeah, I have no idea what I'm looking at, but it clearly wasn't build by a regular human... Anyway, you asked for materials, right? Let me get a couple for you. In the meantime, why don't you look for some armor for yourself?" - with that the smith disappeared behind the backdoor.

Taking smith's advise, Naofumi looked around in search for some armor, and got himself a rather cheap leather set. He put everything on the counter and then started inspecting some shields that were hanging on the walls. Some of them looked too heavy for him to even lift, some looked expensive as hell, and there even was one completely covered in spikes.

'If only mine had spikes on it... it would be infinitely times better...' - he thought while looking at his own one with mixed emotions.

'Zero attack sucks. There is no denying that, but maybe Itsuki was right and all I have to do is to upgrade it a lot?' - his thoughts were stopped by the sound of the door opening and the bell ringing.

Curious, he looked over there - 'I wonder what kind of people shop here... Probably some badass adventurers that slay dragons on a daily basis...hmm..maybe I could ask them for some advise...' - his hopes were shattered when he noticed who was it - 'Oh.. Never mind, it's just Motoyasu.'

"Ahh, Naofumi!"

"What's up?"

"Well I was about to go mobbing but I realised i still don't have any armor, and I guess you thought the same."

"Yeah, actually."

"So where's the owner of this shop?"

"I asked him to bring some raw materials to see if my shield could absorb them."

"Ohh.. Good thinking. You think he will give me some too?"

"If you'll also pay then I don't see a reason why not."

"Pay?"

"...Yeah? What, were you planning to abuse your status as a hero to get everything for free?" - Naofumi frowned.

"N-No, not at all, though now that you said it I kinda wish to do that." - Motoyasu responded with a sheepish smile.

Naofumi chuckled, but then noticed something rather odd:

"Where's your party?"

"I gave them some money and let them go shopping, maybe we are in a different world but girls still love doing that here!" - Motoyasu said while making some gestures as to show off how manly and good-hearted he is.

"Heh, sounds like they are gold digging you." - Naofumi mocked, but then his eyes widened as he realised something. With an awkward smile he turned to Myne. - "M-Myne!" - she turned to him with a questioning look - "Yes, Shield Hero?" - "Would you want to go shopping too?" - Naofumi offered while forcing himself to appear as relaxed and natural as possible, which only brought the exact opposite effect, making him sound very nervous. That resulted with Motoyasu struggling to hold back laughter at his friend's hopelessness, but, thankfully for Naofumi the girl he targeted seemed rather oblivious.

"Ohh, Shield Hero, I couldn't possibly ask you for anything."

"N-Nonsense! You are my party member! And please drop the whole "Shield Hero" title, you can call me Naofumi! Since you became my party member, you also became my friend! Plus, I am the one who should be praising you for joining me after nobody else did!"

A few sweet words from Naofumi, laughs from Motoyasu, and weirdly over exaggerated lines from Myne she accepted 200 silver coins and left the two heroes.

"Wow... What a comedy you just played."

"S-Shut up!"

They discussion was cut short by the old man, who just came back with a big bag.

"Sorry for the wait, you didn't specify what exactly you wanted so I simply brought a little bit of everything." - he opened the bag and spilled the contents, after which he looked with an energetic smile at them, his eyes widening in surprise - "Hey, kiddo, did that girl just shapeshift into a man or something?"

At first Naofumi didn't understand, but facepalmed after looking at Motoyasu, who was just blankly staring at the materials, probably trying to guess what was what.

"Ohh, that girl left earlier, as for him... - " - Naofumi struck him with his elbow - "OW!" - "He's a friend of mine."

After that Iwatani got closer to Kitamura and whispered to his ear: "Maybe you should introduce yourself."

"Ahh, yes! My apologies, fine sir, I am Motoyasu Kitamura, the Spear Hero!" - he said while making some dramatic poses, causing Naofumi to both cringe and laugh.

The blacksmith looked at him rather sceptically for a while, but then smiled and chuckled.

"Heh, I've just realised."

"What?" - both heroes raised their eyebrows.

"I don't even know your name!" - he said while pointing at the shielder.

"Wha-? Really?" - confused Naofumi could have sworn that he did introduce himself earlier.

"Hah! You wanted to scold me yet you were just as rude as me!" - Motoyasu pointed his finger at his friend while laughing.

Shielder just looked down while covering his face in embarrassment, but he took a deep breath and raised his head to face the blacksmith. With a smile and eyes overflowing with joy he said: "I'm Naofumi Iwatani, the Shield Hero."

Blacksmith smiled and nodded.

"Motoyasu and Naofumi, eh? My name is Erhard, and I would be delighted to have you two as my regular customers!" - After that he reached his hand to them and shook both of theirs.

* * *

"...Please, stop following me."

"I'm not! I'm going out to the fields!"

"Well, so do I..."

"So we're going in the same direction after saying goodbye? That's... awkward..."

"Awkward indeed..."

The two younger heroes got their armor from the castle's armory and were now heading out mobbing with their parties.

Ren got himself something that he called "Dark Knight Armor", even though in reality it was just a standard light plated armor, but made out of some darker metal. He really wanted a cape to go with it, but he didn't find any.

Itsuki got himself some simple leather armor and boots, and that's it. His gamer intuition told him that an archer doesn't need anything more.

"How's your arm?" - Ren asked with a hidden concern.

Itsuki grabbed his own wrist and bended his fingers for a bit before answering:

"It's fine, it scared me more than actually hurt."

"Still, to think that trying to vield weapons other than ours will result with a shock..."

"Eh, it's not that bad, though I do wish I could at least hold a knife if someone got too close to me."

Ren grabbed his chin and started thinking more deeply about it.

'Me and Motoyasu should be just fine, Itsuki gets hindered only a little, but the one who has it the worst has to be Naofumi, because it means that he can't use any actual weapons at all...'

Ren looked over his shoulder at their respective parties.

'I have five people following me, Motoyasu and Itsuki have three each, and Naofumi only has that girl, so to make things even I should give him two of mine, but they already showed that they don't want to follow the shield... Why? Is it because they think that he is the weakest? Well, I guess he is, but still... Hmmm... The king also was weirdly rude towards Naofumi... And that church we walked past earlier... It had a sword, a spear, and a bow overlapping as its symbol... I get it that some people worship heroes as gods, but why not the shield? ...Something's wrong here...'

"What are you thinking about, Ren?"

"Nothing, nothing."

* * *

**_Iron Shield unlocked_**

**_DEF 10_**

**_Equip Skill: Iron Curtain_**

**_Steel Shield unlocked_**

**_DEF 13_**

**_Equip Bonus: Stun Resistance (small)_**

**_Bronze Shield unlocked_**

**_DEF 7_**

**_Equip Bonus: Knockback Resistance (small)_**

"Whoah... I have never seen anything like this!" - Erhart commented while watching the process of 'absorbing'.

The three of them agreed that in return for getting all those materials for free Erhart will be able to watch it all, AND they will buy something.

**_Copper Spear unlocked_**

**_ATT 2 _**

**_DEF 2_**

**_Equip Skill: Electric Conduit_**

"Oh wow, try this one, Naofumi!"

**_Copper Shield unlocked_**

**_DEF 3_**

**_Equip Skill: Electric Conduit_**

"Did your attack go up?"

"No..."

"Oh, so the stat ups aren't the same for all weapons then..."

"Yeah, I guess... Anyway, try these ones."

**_Iron Spear unlocked_**

**_Steel Spear unlocked_**

**_Bronze Spear unlocked_**

And that were all kinds of metal Erhart had in the storage at this time.

"So, what do you think, uncle? Pretty cool, eh?" - Motoyasu started

"First of all, don't call me 'uncle', Second: Yes, they are truly amazing... In fact, I can't help but wonder what more could they absorb."

"Yeah, like, for example what happens when I try absorbing a different spear? Or when Naofumi absorbs some shield?"

"...We could try."

"Really!?"

Erhart responed with a smile and a deep laugh.

"If you'll buy them, of course."

Motoyasu's smile transformed into a deadpan, but Naofumi was already looking at the shields on display. His attention occupied mainly by that spiked one.

"How much is that one?"

"90 silver, I'm not gonna lie, that's pretty expensive."

Ignoring that Iwatani grabbed it and tried absorbing it. He expected one of these two things to happen: 1) nothing at all 2) it will get absorbed as normal. So you can imagine his surprise when the shields gem started 'scanning' that spiked shield.

"What the..."

**_Spiked Shield unlocked_**

**_ATT 5_**

**_DEF 5_**

**_Equip Bonus: Reflect Damage_**

The shield on his forearm looked like an ideal copy of the one in his hands, but it had the shield's green gem in the middle, with the original spiked one still existing.

"Ohh, ... It appears that your weapons can copy other weapons of the same type without breaking them in the process, heh, in that case I'll let it slide for just 20 silver."

Naofumi looked at Erhart, and then at Motoyasu. They looked at each other with flabbergasted smiles, after which their expressions changed into evil-ish smiles, as they went on a shield/spear scanning rampage.

**_Tower Shield unlocked_**

**_Round Shield unlocked_**

**_Wooden Shield unlocked_**

**_Leather Shield unlocked_**

**_Guard Spear unlocked_**

**_Hooked Spear unlocked_**

**_Cavalry Spear unlocked_**

**_Heavy Pike unlocked_**

"...But you know it's going to cost you, right?"

* * *

"Hyaagh!" - Ren's battle cry echoed through the fields as he cut down the last baloon enemy.

Balloons were pretty weird, they were literally leather balls with sharp-teethed mouths and empty eyes. Their intelligence was limited to biting everything in their sight, but they were so weak that even a human child could take one of them on. Because of that people don't even coinsider them dangerous enough to send armed forces to eradicate them, explaining why there is always so many of them near the castle. That's also probably why they were treated as an EXP farm for begginer adventurers, or, in this case, beginner heroes.

Picking up the deflated red balloons' ... _corpse? _..._ carcass?_ Ren absorbed it with his sword.

**_Red Sword unlocked_**

**_ATT 2_**

'2, eh? All the other colours only gave 1... Even then, all those balloon swords are pretty useless... But I guess it should be expected, I'll just have to go hunting for stronger monsters for better materials...' - he started thinking.

Looking at his party over his shoulder Ren noticed that they were patiently waiting for his next orders. Redirecting his sight at the sky he realised that it wasn't even noon yet. Now looking around he noticed some big forest on the horizon.

"Well, no use in lazing around. Let's go to that forest to hunt for some stronger creatures!" - he ordered. There wasn't any hesitation in his voice, making them think that he is a confident leader. In reality though, Ren kind of... didn't want them. He was a loner. When he played video games he almost always played alone, his reasoning being: 'I prefer to rely only on myself'. The only exceptions were his three friends, of course.

Looking at his party once again he couldn't help but think:

'... I'd much rather go with my friends than them...'

And just like that Sword Hero's group travelled in silence towards the forest, with Ren deeply thinking about their situation. After 'grinding' balloons for three hourse straight he was at level 3. After asking his companions if they levelled up he got a negative response, which was pretty obvious, coinsidering all of them were at level 40. '...Why 40? Is there some deeper meaning behind it? Maybe its level cap for a regular human in this world?'. Either way, it looks like they are going to carry him in this... _early game_. '...Speaking of, I wonder how the others are doing...' - his thoughts jumped from one topic to another, as he tried to understand this world, and thinking about his friends brought him to the next topic:

'So the four legendary heroes can't fight alongside each other?' - he thought while looking at his sword's blue gem.

As if it heard him, an announcement popped up:

_**Help: Each legendary weapon has a 25% EXP gain penalty applying to the user and their entire party. This effect stacks up when multiple legendary weapon users operate together.**_

'So we could fight together, but we would be stuck at level 1 forever? I wonder if we could somehow bypass it... there's gotta be some way to do so... like, for example, what happens if we will simply not register each other as party members? Or we will fight one at a time?... There has to be a way...'

* * *

Itsuki was much more hasty than the others. He and his party went to the forest right after he had unlocked all of the balloon bows. Unlike Ren, who stayed on the balloon fields to level up a bit more just in case, Itsuki couldn't wait to fight an _actual _monster. Because let's be fair, balloons aren't exactly terrifying. Right now he was travelling through the woods with a certain knight from his party in the lead, he was cutting down any bushes and branches in their way with his sword. Itsuki himself was right behind him, zealously looking around in search for some target, with the rest of the party in the rear, watching out for any attacks from behind. They spent a solid hour walking around like that, until...

"Everyone, stop!" - Itsuki quietly ordered.

Without any words, they obeyed.

Itsuki spotted some movement in between the trees, so he went prone and ordered others to do the same. After a minute of observing the group was able to see the source of the commotion: ...an Elk.

Deadpanning in disappointment Itsuki raised to his knees, raised his bow, channeled a magical arrow and aimed...

...Aiming took him quite some time, bacause he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of his party. He is supposed to be the great bow hero, after all! The finest marksman in the world! He NEVER misses!...

'...Too bad I literally have never shot from a bow before...' - he thought. His target practice with balloons earlier helped out a lot, but he was still far from a sharpshooter.

...And as he was aiming the Elk raised his head and started nervously looking around, meaning it spotted something.

'Oh shit...' - Itsuki thought that it spotted them, but no, it turned out it spotted something else...

"Master Bow Hero!" - one of his party members, a rogue, called out to him and pointed in some direction. - "Dire Wolves!"

After retracting his arrow Kawasumi looked in that direction, just to spot a HUGE wolf coming out of the bushes. And a couple more following it.

"What do we do, master? They must be much higher level than you!"

Itsuki was shocked. He was always afraid of dogs, and not without a reason, and just like that he found himself unable to respond.

Instead, he just stood there and watched as those wolves rushed towards their pray - the elk. It tried to run away, but the wolves were faster, and quickly catched it. The elk tried to break free with all of its might, but to no success. Instead it got its throat torn apart by one of the predators, with the other ones following with biting off big parts of its body.

"Master Bow Hero! Should we strike them down!?"

...

"Master! One word from you and we will take them on!"

...

The wolves must have heard their words, as they looked away from their prey and were now looking at the hero and his party. They started growling and were now slowly approaching towards them, with their fangs exposed, covered in fresh blood. They approached slowly at first, but within a second they started sprinting towards them with surprising speed. This caused Itsuki's party to draw their weapons.

"Master! We will protect you!"

But one of the wolves was already jumping at him...

* * *

"AGHH!" - a scream echoed.

"Master Shield Hero!"

"I'm fine! ...I'm... fine?"

Naofumi just got bitten by a balloon. It didn't hurt at all, but he still screamed, mostly out of the surprise. Looking at the balloon again, he noticed that it pretty much attached itself to him, still munching on his wrist.

"It doesn't hurt you? But its still biting you..." - a rather concerned Myne pointed out.

"Yeah, I don't get it... Maybe its because of my high defense stat?"

In response Myne raised her sword.

"Should I take care of it?"

To this point Myne was the only one who was killing balloons, because, well, she could carry an actual weapon, unlike our favourite shielder.

...To this point...

"No, I want to test out my attack." - he said with a devilish smile. He was tired of feeling useless and he wanted to see wether his attacks were as weak as the others kept telling him. So he grabbed the little bastard and punched it. He didn't use his shield, he didn't even pick up a rock or anything.

He just punched the bastard.

*BOING*

His fist just bounced off, and the balloon didn't seem to be phased at all.

This only made Naofumi frustrated.

*BOING*

*BOING*

*BOING*

*BOING*

"H-Hero?" - creeped out Myne said.

"AGHHH!" - he screamed in anger as he threw the balloon into the ground.

**_Spiked Shield active._**

"DIE!"

*POP*

**_EXP +1_**

...Naofumi dropped to his knees and looked at what he has done for a few seconds...

"I DIIIID IT!" - he cheered while raising his hand into the air.

"Good Job! What a hero!" - Myne congratulated.

Naofumi just chuckled under his nose while letting his shile absorb the remnants of the orange balloon.

_**Orange Shield unlocked**_

_**DEF 1**_

He didn't care how weak that new shield was. He was on cloud nine. Why?

...Because he _can_ attack!

* * *

When Naofumi and Myne were coming back from the fields it was evening, it also looked like it was about to rain. After the entire day spent on farming the balloons Naofumi reached level 2, and unlocked a couple of new shields, most of them were just as useless as the orange one. But still, keep getting "+1" every day and at the end of the year you will have "+365" so it's not so bad after all. After all of their hard work they decided to call it a day and find an inn to sleep in. Right now they were sitting in inn's corner and waiting for their meal.

"So we were out in these fields today..." - Myne started while pointing at a small map of the surrounding area they bought earlier - "Right here. This map is small, so it's not written out, but there is a town on the other side of this forest" - She said while pointing at the forest that Itsuki and Ren fought in earlier.

Of course, she and Naofumi didn't know that.

"Outside that town there is a dungeon that is perfect for beginner adventurers. You can't get much loot, but we can get a lot of EXP!"

"Great idea, Myne!"

Her only response was a smile.

A smile so beautiful Naofumi's heart skipped a beat.

"Anyway, after all this work you must be tired, why not have some wine?" - she said while a waitress approached with a wine bottle in her hands.

'What? When did she menage to order one!?' - he thought.

"Well..." - he scratched the back of his head - "...Sorry but I don't drink."

"C'mon! Just one glass!" - she pleaded with a playful smile

"No thanks, I don't like it." - he still refused.

"Well, alright..." - she said, rather disappointed

And that's when it hit him.

"Hey, Myne"

"Huh?"

"Thank you."

"Eh?"

"Thanks for everything. You decided to help me when nobody else did, without you I would be lost in this world."

She lowered her head, causing her hair to cover her eyes.

"You're too kind, Hero."

"Heh, Am I?"

At that moment their conversation was interrupted by the waitress who brought them their meal. And so they ate in awkward silence.

After finishing Naofumi decided that it will simply be better to go to sleep already, so he wished Myne good night and went to his room.

'Motoyasu's right, I can't talk with a girl for shit, heh.' - he laughed at himself in his mind as he was going up the stairs.

...But as he was walking he heard a familiar voice while walking past some other rooms. At first he thought he though it was his imagination, but no, the voice spoke again. Quickly finding the room it was coming from he glued his ear to the doors and started listening.

"-...ow what? I feel bad for Naofumi." - The voice that Naofumi recognized belonged to Ren.

"Yeah, the shielder class is pretty useless." - Motoyasu.

So they are in the same inn as him? How didn't he notice them before?

"Yeah, he completely relies on his teammates, and for some reason nobody even wants to follow him."

"Heh, I mean it's pretty obvious, who would want to follow and babysit a hero who can't even attack? What kind of a hero is he even."

Something shattered inside Naofumi. His best friends talking shit about him behind his back? He wanted to get angry...

...but he couldn't, because there was some truth in Motoyasu's words.

"Hey!"

"What? I'm not shit talking Naofumi, I'm shit talking the shielder class in general! This shit was useless in Emerald Online, and so far this world feels identical to that game!"

"...Yeah, in Brave Star Online the shielder was garbage too..."

If Naofumi was happy earlier, he certainly wasn't now. Looking at his shield he couldn't help but agree with them. Maybe it's OK now, in the 'early game', but sooner or later he will start encountering enemies who will simply have too much HP for him to handle. Just like Ren said, he relies on his teammates too much.

"Like, it's not even that shielder is _bad_... well, it is pretty bad, _but_ it has potential to be useful in a highly coordinated team, yet as we all know, for some reason nobody wants to follow him..."

"Well, isn't that obvious? Those guys who follow us only want easy riches and fame that come with following a powerful hero. Almost none of them do it because they want to be heroes themselves. Following the shield hero would be too bothersome when compared to following one of the three of us."

Naofumi's eyes widened. It wasn't the first time Ren surprised him with his deduction powers, but it still was astonishing.

"Ohhh, good thinking, Ren. ...and speaking of, where is Itsuki?"

"Don't know, probably went to a different Inn, same for Naofumi."

Naofumi stopped eavesdropping and with lowered face he went to his own room, shut himself in it, took his clothes off and laid down in his bed.

But he couldn't sleep, he had _that_ feeling in his chest. Yeah, you know exactly what I mean, don't you?

He instead kept staring at his shield's gem.

'You are not _that_ useless...' - he started talking to his shield - '... They just compare you to video games, but this isn't a video game! This is real! This world is REAL! The people we met are all REAL! The monster we fought are REAL! That bed that i'm laying in right now is REAL! And you are REAL too!'

Maybe it was just his imagination, but he could swear that the shield's gem shined for a second.

"Just you wait, we'll show them. Oh, we'll show them."

With a smirk on his face the shield hero went to sleep, eager to face tomorrow's challenges.

* * *

_**Well it took me quite a while. **_

**_A lot of you probably know this already, but if you don't then i'd like to tell you about "The Rising of the Four Heroes" by Pretty Lazy. It's a fanfiction very similiar to this one (and tbh I think it's better than mine) so if you would like something more about four heroes working together then go and check it out._**

**_Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter._**

**_Cya._**


	3. 3 - The Unjust Trial

It was early morning. Ren and Motoyasu have already woken up and were now eating their breakfast. Well, Ren was. Motoyasu fell asleep with his face in his plate.

Ren sighed and threw a pea from his plate at him.

"W-Wha..!?" - Motoyasu lifted his face, which was covered in mashed potatoes and meat sauce.

Ren's only response was to give him a cloth to clean his face.

"Aw man, why did we have to get up so early."

"So that we can level up more efficiently."

"Yeah, Yeah... You're right..." - he said while rubbing his eyes to make himself feel less sleepy.

"What level are you, by the way?"

"Eh? I think 7..." - he double checked on his status - "Yeah, 7."

"7? How? I'm only at 4."

"4? What did you do yesterday?"

"I uhh... Grinded balloons for a couple of hours and then went into the forest. You know, trying to figure out monster spawn rates and their strengths."

"Yeah, that's just like you. I went to a beginner dungeon that's east from here."

"Really? Weren't you too weak though?"

"At first I thought so, but the girls in my party kind of carried me there. Also my spear became really strong after visiting that blacksmith."

"Wait, what blacksmith?"

"Eh? Naofumi didn't tell you?"

"No, I haven't seen him since we separated."

"Oh, well, you see, me and Nao went to the same blacksmith's shop and asked for some materials to upgrade our weapons with. He only had a couple of different metals but all of the unlocked weapons were good, some even had some cool skills."

Ren just stared at him with his emotionless face and blinked. After that he facepalmed with a loud "slap".

"Whoah, dude, what's the matter?"

"N-Nothing, it's just... I can't believe I didn't think of that myself."

Motoyasu chuckled. "Well, I can lead you and Itsuki there tomorrow. The guy who runs this place is really nice."

"Please do."

At that moment a bunch of knights entered the inn, which caused the two heroes to raise their eyebrows, but they didn't think too much about it. The knights just went pass them without any words, they said something to the innkeeper and then went upstairs.

"...Anyway, where do you think Itsuki and Naofumi are now?"

"At a different inn, obviously. I already told you that yesterday. Unless they asked to sleep inside the castle."

"Yeah, fair enough."

"Nevermind that, have you discovered anything new about our weapons? The help section is vague at times."

"Well, I guess not, my spear works exactly how you said: Absorb something. A new spear gets unlocked. It has its own stats and abilities... Wait, no! With Naofumi we discovered something new!"

"...go on then..."

"Our weapons can copy other weapons of the same type! We discovered it when Naofumi tried absorbing a different shield, he was able to copy it!"

_'Well if that's the case then Naofumi's the one who discovered it, not both of you...' _\- Ren thought.

"...So it's rather likely that I can copy different swords while Itsuki copies different bows, correct?"

"Yeah, that's what I said..."

And at that moment they heard a commotion: the sound of many footsteps coming from the second floor, with some man's shouts mixed in between. At first they just got confused, but they guessed it had something to do with the knights so they decided to shrug it off for now. The knights soon came downstairs, and they were leading some guy with their weapons pointed at him, as if they just took him prisoner or something.

"What's that all about?" - Motoyasu asked.

"They probably just caught a thief or something." - Ren answered with monotonous voice.

At first Motoyasu just wanted to accept it as a fact and ignore it, but he nearly choked on his food when he saw who that "thief" was. Seeing his friend's reaction Ren turned over his shoulder to also look at the culprit in question, his eyes widening in shock at what he saw.

"Naofumi!?" - Ren's and Motoyasu's combined voices.

Naofumi looked in their direction, his expression rather anxious and worried, but it lighted up a bit after seeing them.

"Guys! I think there is a misunderstanding of sorts!" - he cried out to them

"Be quiet!" - one of the knights said while poking him with a spear.

"Hey!" - Motoyasu couldn't stand for that, that's why he quickly got up and run up to them.

"What is the meaning of this!?" - Motoyasu demanded answers.

"Step aside, sir! This man has been charged with a crime and is currently being lead to his trial!"

Motoyasu gritted his teeth. He grabbed his spear, which was leaning against a nearby wall and was covered in cloth and rushed in front of the soldiers. Ren, sensing some heavy trouble coming, also got up and approached.

"I am Motoyasu Kitamura, the Spear Hero! And that man is the Shield Hero!" - he shouted while taking the cloth off his spear.

The guard just looked at him for a moment before answering:

"...Yes, we are aware of that..."

"...Eh?" - Motoyasu lost all of his courage. But that's where Ren decided to speak up:

"Explain this situation." - he calmly ordered.

"The Shield Hero has been charged with a crime, and we have been ordered to bring him to his trial."

"I didn't do anything!" - Naofumi protested.

"Silence! Your guilt will be proven or not during the trial."

"N-Naofumi... Did you do anything?" - Motoyasu asked in disbelief.

"Of course not!"

"Don't talk to the prisoner, mister Spear Hero."

"He's not your prisoner!" - Motoyasu shouted while raising his spear. Any pressure more and he will actually fight these guys. Ren could feel that, that's why he stepped in and grabbed him by his shoulder. "It's OK, Moto, we'll just accompany him during the trial and we'll make sure he gets his name clear."

Motoyasu was trembling, tightening his grip on his spear. How dare they treat his friend like that!?

Naofumi was just... confused... yeah, that's the word.

Ren on the other hand tried to make sense out of this situation, but he didn't come up with any possible explanations. _'Naofumi's not the type of guy to do anything bad, but I also don't see a reason why anybody would want to frame him... They must've caught the wrong guy... But the order was to capture the Shield Hero specifically... I don't like where this is going...'_

And so, to avoid any unnecessary fights Ren and Motoyasu decided to follow Naofumi and his '_escort'._

* * *

Their walk to the castle wasn't particularly pleasant, but it's not like they could do much about it. Once they arrived the knights dragged Naofumi to the throne room and straight up _threw_ him to the ground. Motoyasu was struggling not to beat the shit out of all of them, but there were two things preventing him from that: Ren who kept telling him to keep it cool for now, and the thought that he would probably end up getting beat up by them. Ren was still calm because he believed that everything will turn out alright in the end. That's why he was looking forward to the trial, because he was sure that Naofumi will be proven innocent. That is also why he got happy when he saw the king sitting in his throne before them. _'The king must be the type of person to look at this situation without letting emotions get to his head'_ \- he thought.

However, the moment the king noticed Naofumi he got up from his throne and with disgust in his voice said: "I knew from the very moment I first saw you that you were up to something! You **_DEMON_**!"

_'...or not...' - _Ren thought, surprised. He was also starting to get anxious.

"B-but I didn't -..." - Naofumi started, but Ren interrupted him while pointing his finger at the king, causing some nobles in the room to gasp.

"Hold on!" - he shouted - "You haven't even said what is he _allegedly_ guilty of!"

"That's right! Haven't you heard about 'presumption of innocence' ?" - Motoyasu added.

The king was clearly surprised that someone has said something against him.

"Spear and Sword heroes? This matter should not concern you. The Shield Hero has been charged with the crime of sexual assault!" - he said, hoping that the last part will make them stop supporting the Shield Hero.

"What!?" - both Naofumi and Motoyasu shouted.

"There's no way Naofumi would do such a thing!" - Motoyasu said.

"Who has he even _allegedly _assaulted!?" - Ren said, not believing in that bullshit for even a second.

And at that moment all three heroes heard someone sobbing. Turning their heads towards the source they noticed a rather familiar face.

"Myne!" - Naofumi called out to her, hoping that she will clear the misunderstanding. But her reaction surprised him, because upon hearing his call she recoiled back, as if she was afraid of him. Also, she was crying and her clothes were all torn.

"Myne, what happened?" - this time Motoyasu was the one to call out to her, his white knight syndrome forcing him to go and comfort her. Once he got close to her she quite literally fell into his arms and started crying into his shoulder. "M-Myne... What happened?"

"...H-He...r-raped me..." - she managed to say through her sobbing and then started crying again.

Hearing that all of the heroes' eyes widened.

Motoyasu just hugged her, completely not knowing what to do. He also started comforting her with some rather meaningless words like: "It's okay, you're safe now..." etc.

Naofumi didn't take it well. Myne was his only companion and someone did that atrocity to her right under his nose. He failed her. He was supposed to protect her in return for her help. And he failed. He failed. HE FAILED AGAIN. Something just _snapped_ inside him at that moment. He straightened up, instinctively activated his spiked shield and almost shouted. "WHO!? WHO DID THAT TO YOU!?". Everyone's eyes aimed at him, and everyone got surprised to see him. Even though he was still the same person the aura he emanated was different. It was very... dark... almost evil in fact. Our Naofumi was full of anger. He was angry at whoever raped Myne, but he was even more angry at himself. He was so tired of his own uselessness. He didn't care about being powerful for his own sake. He wanted to be powerful for one reason, and one reason only: Protect those he cares about. Funny that, the shield should be the best at protecting, as Motoyasu and Itsuki said before: _"It's your job to save lives, not to take them." "I'm sure he will be better at protecting you guys than me..." _yet he can't even protect his only companion...

While Naofumi was busy with failing to deal with his emotions Ren had already connected all the dots. He opened his mouth to enlighten Naofumi, but the king was faster than him.

"DON'T PRETEND TO BE INNOCENT, DEMON! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO DEFILED HER!" - he shouted at Naofumi.

Ren was unphased, he saw it coming from a mile away. The other two on the other hand...

"WHAT!?" - their shouts were perfectly synchronized.

"N-No... Myne, tell them that it wasn't me..." - Naofumi pleaded, all of his anger suddenly gone.

"R-Right! Tell them they got the wrong guy! Naofumi would never-..." - Motoyasu started, but Myne interrupted him with her tears "I'm sorry, sir Motoyasu... b-but it's true..."

"What!? No way!"

"You don't believe me?" - she asked with tears all over her face.

"What are you talking about Myne?" - Naofumi asked with a concerned face. Part of him wanted it all to be a very bad prank.

"Naofumi..." - Motoyasu called his name. When he looked at him he could see the look of disbelief on his face.

"What? You don't think that I did it, right?" - he asked, rather jokingly, but then he realised that if things will go wrong, his friend can lose faith in him. - "Y-You trust me, right!? You know I would never do such a thing!" - He was slowly becoming desperate.

"Hold on everyone!" - Ren decided to speak up before things will get too bad. - "If you want to accuse him of such a crime at least give him a proper trial before claiming him guilty!" - he was frustrated with the king's incompetence.

Naofumi lighted up a bit, knowing that Ren still believed in him.

"T-That's right! There needs to be a proper trial!" - Motoyasu demanded. He was desperate to find an explaining that would make Naofumi innocent and Myne truthful. '_It's illogical but there just HAS TO be an explanation!'_

"What is there to judge? It's obvious someone defiled her, and we have multiple evidence and witnesses! There is no doubt in his fault!"

"Oh really? What evidence and what witnesses? Are they here now? I want to hear their statements." - Ren said, clearly not believing in Myne's bullshit.

The king was clearly angered. He never expected anybody to protect the Shield Hero, but he regained his composure and sighed. He turned his gaze towards a noble with a scroll next to him, and nodded, giving him an order to read it. The noble cleared his throat and started reading.

"After renting two separate rooms in an inn and finishing their meal, Myne Sophia and the Shield Hero decided to go to sleep. Myne went to her room and closed the door, but after some time she heard a knock. After acknowledging that it was Shield Hero himself she opened the door for him. The Shield Hero then proceeded to push Myne on top of her bed, lock the door behind him, and then with his brute force alone he forced her down and forced himself on her until she fainted. Or maybe even longer. Once Myne regained her consciousness the Shield Hero was gone, so she took the chance to ask royal guards for help, bringing us to our current situation." - Once the noble finished he rolled the scroll and backed away.

Naofumi was flabbergasted by this nonsense. He looked over to Myne, not even knowing what he hoped for. And that's when he saw it. Motyasu was looking at him, so he didn't see that, but Myne, who was behind him, has literally stick her tongue out at him, with smug look in her eyes._ She knew._ She knew that he was innocent. She was framing him. He could feel something shattering inside of him. He fell to his knees, the room around him suddenly became very dark. But at the same time, everything started to make sense. Why she wanted to follow him when nobody else did. Why she seemed so artificially polite all the time. Everything made sense now. _'She planned this from the very beginning, didn't she?... What... a... BITCH! THAT FUCKING WHORE! WHY!? WHY!? WHAT HAVE I EVER DONE TO DESERVE IT!? WHY WOULD SHE EVEN DO THAT!? IT'S NOT LIKE SHE WILL GET RICH OR SOMETHING SO WHY!? FOR FUCK'S SAKE JUST WHY!? ...and now she is even trying to get my friends against me... what's wrong with her!? I bet that this whole trial is staged on top of that. Even if Ren will somehow find a way to prove me innocent this trash king will still find me guilty. He never liked me. He hated me from the very beginning, I'm like useless garbage to them, aren't I? Is that the reason why!? Is it because I am the weakest? Is it because I have a shield instead of a proper weapon? Is it because they think I won't fight back? It's not like I chose it! It's not like I wanted to be here in the first place! But even then, I never had any ill intentions towards them, I wanted to help them from the very beginning, while the other three kept making demands. Is this what I get for just trying to help them? Is this what I get for trying to be a good person? Am I supposed to save a world filled with people like that bitch and trash? HAH! How about no! Fuck you! Fuck all of you! A world like this can die for all I care for!'_

_..._

_'Why did I get that useless shield?'_

_'Why couldn't I get a weapon like others?'_

_'I just want to be useful.'_

_'I want to make it up to them.'_

_'__I want a weapon like theirs.'_

**_[Attention]_**

**_[Curse Series conditions have been met.]_**

At that point Naofumi just couldn't take it. He gritted his teeth and started trembling. Two streams of tears appeared on his cheeks. When Ren noticed it he run up to him, trying to comfort him, but he had no idea how to. And that's when he truly realised just how serious the matter was. It wasn't something that would be forgotten after a few weeks, if they will fail to defend him his reputation will be ruined, and since he is a Hero he could become the public enemy number one, which would be rather bothersome when trying to, well, save the world. And that's not even mentioning Naofumi's feelings themselves, he could see that he was suffering right now. But, being himself, always trying to hide his own feelings, he had no idea how to help someone else like that. This awkwardness changed into frustration. And that frustration changed into anger. Anger which he decided to redirect to the source of this problem. That stupid king and that lying whore.

"What kind of bullshit is all of this!?" - he shouted, gaining everyone's attention. - "The 'witnesses' aren't present and the only 'evidence' are her meaningless words!" He said while pointing at Myne. "Any idiot can accuse anybody of anything! Her words alone aren't enough to claim him guilty!". He said now pointing at still kneeling Naofumi, fury in both his words and eyes. "If you will make him guilty you will make ME your enemy!" With those words the king's jaw dropped.

Having heard all of this Naofumi wiped his tears and lifted his face, hope visible in his eyes. Ren however wasn't done yet.

"AND YOU!" - he now pointed at Motoyasu - "If you have any brain you will back me up on this one!"

Motoyasu was at a loss of words. Ren never exploded like that before. Part of him wanted to immediately join him and defend Naofumi, but that would mean having to admit that Myne was lying this entire time, and he just couldn't believe all of Myne's tears were fake, even if her statements about Naofumi were far from believable to him. Myne was still in his arms, half of him wanting to simply comfort her, with the other half demanding... anything really. Answers, explanations, excuses, anything.

"Myne... what really happened?" - he asked.

"All of that was true! H-he threw me on the bed and he smelled of alcohol and..a-and..." - she then proceeded to burst into tears.

Having heard that Motoyasu lowered his face and gently pushed her away from himself.

"...S-Sir Motoyasu?"

"Sorry, Myne, but if there's one thing that I know for sure it's that Naofumi NEVER drinks..."

"W-What do you mean?"

He raised his face to her, revealing his frown, which made her widen her eyes.

"I don't believe you." - he said. He still didn't understand how could she cry like that, deep inside wanting to believe that she simply confused a random guy with Naofumi, but he knew that it would be too much of a coincidence.

Myne got completely shocked. She never even imagined someone could side with the Shield Hero.

"W-What!? Sir Motoyasu, how dare you imply I'm lying! I thought you were different!" - she said with fake tears in her eyes.

"I...I..." - he struggled to find a response.

"Don't listen to that bitch, Moto..." - Ren spoke, earning a gasp from Bi-... I mean Myne.

"WHAT!? How dare you use words like that, Sword Hero? Perhaps your power has gotten into your head just like with the Shield Hero?" - angered king said.

"Pffft. This entire trial is a joke. Again, witnesses aren't present and the only real 'evidence' are Myne's words. Something like this would never make it through where we're from. It's painfully obvious that it's a set up."

The King found himself at a loss of words. He never even considered that this set up would be so bothersome. It was supposed to go much more smoothly, with not a single person backing up the Shield, yet here they are, with both the Sword and the Spear supporting him. _'Why? What type of trust could they build between themselves during two days? Could that be...'_ he frowned while thinking _'...Did the Sword Hero just say: "from where WE're from"?'._ And that's when he understood. _'All Heroes came from the same world!? B-But the prophecy... Could it be because I summoned them all in Merlomarc, as oppose to one hero in each country, as it always was before? N-Not good... If all the heroes will go rogue against me I will be in deep trouble... The entire Merlomarc will... I need to think of a way to make them still obey me...'_. He clenched his fists, hating what he's about to do, but he knew he had to.

"Very well, If two of the four cardinal heroes are not satisfied with the trial we will have no choice but to do it the way our ancestors did." - he said with deep voice.

The nobles around him started gasping and whispering between each other.

"W-What do you mean, father?" - surprised Myne said, causing Ren to widen his eyes at the realisation that this woman was, in fact, a princess, but what king said next was even more surprising.

"The Duel of Gods!" - king's voice echoed throughout the throne room, successfully making everyone shut up.

"...eh?" - Motoyasu got dumbfounded.

Ren facepalmed at that. _'Of fucking course these medieval fucktards would come up with that...'_ He thought. After sighing he said with tired tone:

"Let me guess... A duel to death, and if he wins he will be claimed innocent?"

"TO DEATH!?" - Motoyasu almost shouted.

Naofumi just smirked under his nose. _'Heh... figures...'_

"The Duel of Gods used to be a traditional way of solving problems between nobles, but it's been greatly reduced in usage due to current queen's and my wife's efforts. It is still practiced in situations when both nobles are dissatisfied with the trial. That's why if both sides of conflict on this trial will agree I will take proper action in preparing it."

"There's so much wrong with it that I don't even know where to start..." - sceptical Ren said.

"B-but how could I fight with the man that I'm terrified of!?" - Myne kept her facade up.

"Both of you can either fight yourselves or choose your representatives."

_'Representatives... Heh, right, how am I supposed to fight all by myself?'_ \- Naofumi thought.

"In that case I agree!" - Myne said, her tone being a combination of anger and sadness. _'She isn't that bad of an actress... In fact, if she framed Motoyasu I would probably believe_ her...'_ \- _Ren thought, but then he turned to Naofumi.

"Don't agree to this, you know it's bullshit."

...

"...Also, isn't it bad for a Cardinal Hero to have a duel to death? Don't you guys need us?" - he now asked the king.

"Yes, since he's still technically one of the four cardinal heroes we can't really afford him dying on us, that's why if the Shield Hero will choose to fight by himself the fight will last till the moment of one of the fighters being unable to keep fighting, as oppose to death. But, as we all know..." - he said with a smug grin - "... The Shield can't fight by himself..."

Still kneeling Naofumi widened his eyes at that.

"C'mon, Naofumi, you are better than those medieval savages." - Ren tried to convince him against the idea.

"But... What else can we do? It's that or being claimed guilty of a crime you never commited. Listen, Naofumi, I'm sorry I didn't believe you from the start. I'll fight for you if you'll want me to." - Motoyasu offered.

Without responding to either, Naofumi got up, and with his gaze aimed at the floor said with a calm, but loud voice:

"Let's say I agree... What then?"

The king smirked and said:

"You will be given a day of time for preparations, during this time you will also have to decide if you will want to fight yourself or have a representative."

"...And if I win, I'll be claimed innocent and won't have any more problems with you?"

"..._Assuming_ that you win, yes."

Naofumi raised his empty eyes at Myne, seeing her frown for a split second. A flame of hate igniting in his heart.

"I accept."

* * *

**_I... don't have anything smart to say actually..._**

**_Well, since the school started then uploads can be a bit inconsistent I guess, but it's not like I have ever promised to update this fic regularly in the first place..._**

**_I guess some people can be upset about Itsuki not appearing at all in this chapter... Sorry?_**

**_...Nobody asked any real questions in reviews, sooo... I guess that's it?_**

**_Anyway, I hope you liked it._**

**_Cya._**


	4. 4 - Preperations

It was getting close to noon.

Streets were full of people, and the entire town was emanating life. And a group of four figures was walking through one of the main streets, many people around them, almost constantly walking into them. This group was lead by a short figure that was wearing a cloak with a hood over their head. They also had a bow on their back, but no quiver.

Once the group reached the town's marketplace they stopped, and the leader turned to the rest.

"Alright everyone, you all did a good job, so you deserve some rest. We're spending the rest of the day resting. But before relaxing, can I count on you selling all of our loot?"

"Sir yes sir!" - Mald, a knight in his forties answered. He was easily the most devoted one of the group. He was wearing a full plate armor, but right now he took off his helmet, revealing his not-so-handsome face with a mustache.

"As you wish." - Lark, a woman in her late thirties also answered. She also wore plated armor, but much lighter version than Mald. She was approximately 5'9 tall, had gray hair that was cut boyishly short, gray eyes and a tanned skin. On her waist there were two swords attached, one on each hip.

"'Aight" - Scel, the rogue of the group said with bored voice. He was a man in his twenties, had black hair and dark eyes with dark bags under them. He looked like he needed to sleep, but in reality this was just the way he looked. He was minimally taller than Lark, around 6 feet, and was wearing a dark assassin's cloak with a hood. His hair were black and messed up, making it clear that he doesn't care about his looks too much, even in presence of a 'hero'.

"Actually, Scel, could you give _that_ bag to me?"

"Huh? Oh, you mean this one?" - He pulled out a sack from below his cloak, which was soaked in blood.

The group's leader took it, and then took off his hood, revealing his curly blonde hair and yellowish eyes.

"I have a business with other heroes, you guys take care for now."

They bid their farewells and quickly separated.

* * *

Frustrated Naofumi was stomping loudly on the castle's cobblestone path while making his way out of it, his gaze aimed at the floor, many emotions in his head, with most of them being dark.

"Wait up!" - A voice from behind him.

Turning over his shoulder he noticed Ren and Motoyasu running up to him.

"The HELL were you thinking!?" - Ren yelled.

Naofumi's only response was to grit his teeth and look away, continuing his march.

"Why on earth would you agree to this shitty duel!?"

"You know I didn't have a choice! What would you do!?"

"Just say "well, fuck them!" and move on with my life!"

"And what!? Do you even know how serious it is!? Now everyone will look at me like I'm a criminal! How am I supposed to save a world full of people that hate me!?"

"...Hey...guys..." - Motoyasu started.

"SHUT UP!" - Ren and Naofumi shouted in unison, causing him to recoil back a bit with a dumbfounded expression.

Then both the arguing heroes looked at each other, frowning and exposing their gritted teeth, like dogs that were about to bite each other. They stared at each other like that for a few seconds, after which Ren took a deep breath in and loudly sighed. Looking at the ground he asked:

"...So what are you planning to do now?" - This time with much calmer voice.

Surprised Naofumi softened his expression and started feeling stupid. He looked to the side and also sighed.

"...Sorry, I shouldn't shout like that at you..."

"...No, it's fine, same goes for me..."

"...No, Ren, for real..." - He looked back at the two offensive heroes - "You two and Itsuki are the only people I can trust right now, I am infinitely grateful for that."

"No problem, mate, we're still here for you!" - Calmed Motoyasu joined in on the conversation.

"Y-yeah..." - Naofumi awkwardly answered while scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, cool, but what are you gonna do?" - Ren continued asking.

Naofumi softly chuckled, as he knew Ren will not like what he's going to tell him.

"I... want to fight... by myself."

Ren clicked his tongue and looked away, cringing.

_"I swear to god you are such an idiot..."_ \- They could hear him whisper.

"Fufu... Maybe I am... But please, understand it. Ever since we got here it felt as if this entire world was trying to tell me that I'm useless. And I want to prove it wrong. I want to show that I can achieve great things without anyone's help."

"Bro... I get it, I really do... But... you're like... hella weak right now." - Motoyasu bluntly said, completely ruining Naofumi's speech.

Naofumi breathed in air through his gritted teeth and sighed once again.

"Yes, Motoyasu, that is EXACTLY the reason why." - Naofumi stared at him as if he was an idiot for a few seconds, and when he noticed that Motoyasu still didn't understood his gaze switched to Ren, who was just frowning at him. - "Ren, what would you do if you were in my place? Would you just accept it and let everyone fight for you?"

Critical hit. Naofumi struck exactly where he should, as Ren's eyes momentarily widened, after which his expression softened a bit.

"...Well... No, I wouldn't, but it doesn't mean it would be a right thing to do! If you lose you will suffer double the humiliation!"

"Let's say I ask one of you guys to fight for me. Let's say you win. The entire kingdom will just keep making fun of me that I can't even fight for myself forever!"

Both Ren and Motoyasu just looked away, realising that what Naofumi just said was true.

"Still, I think you're not thinking straight." - Ren said, after which he started walking towards the castle's gate.

"Where're you going?" - Motoyasu asked.

"C'mon guys, lets quickly find a way to make Naofumi stronger, since this world is based on video game mechanics I'm sure we can find a loophole or something." - he said in defeated tone.

Naofumi's expression lighted up a bit, after which he quickly followed the young swordsman. Motoyasu, not wanting to be left alone, also started running after them.

"Hey, wait for me!"

He ran after them, and slowed down once they all lined up.

"So where are we going?"

"Let's go to that blacksmith's shop you told me about in the morning."

"You mean Erhard's ?" - Naofumi asked.

"Shouldn't we find Itsuki first?"

"Nah, we'll find him sooner or later."

"Guys!" - Someone shouted at them from the distance.

They all looked towards the source of the voice, noticing a small figure with a hooded cloak running in their direction. Once they got close enough they could see that it was indeed Itsuki.

"Told ya." - Ren said with emotionless voice.

"Well that was fucking covenient." - Naofumi said while raising his eyebrow.

"Hey Itsuki! Where have you been this entire time?" - Motoyasu called out to the approaching archer.

"Long story. In short, I didn't make it back from the forest before the nightfall, and stronger monsters started appearing, so I was like "fuck it, it's grinding time." and kept killing and killing until dawn."

"What level are you?" - curious Ren asked.

"Eleven." - Itsuki answered, making them widen their eyes.

"Oh, and I got something for ya!" - Itsuki added with a smile. He reached under his cloak and pulled out a sack that was soaked with blood.

"What's that!?" - shocked Motoyasu shouted while pointing at the thing and hiding behind Naofumi, who only rolled his eyes.

"Some good monster materials?" - Ren figured out.

"Yeah, trust me, it will be insanely useful." - Itsuki said. He was smiling like a maniac, and he had dark bags under his eyes, gained for skipping a night's sleep.

Naofumi hesitantly reached out with his hand, and grabbed the thing. He started slowly untying it. Ren and Motoyasu peeked over each of his shoulders, Ren with a raised eyebrow, Motoyasu with disgust on his face. Meanwhile Itsuki was looking at them with impatience.

"What the... - !" - Motoyasu recoiled back, and almost barfed, while Ren and Naofumi were rendered completely speechless at the sight of what was inside.

"...Itsuki... what is this?" - Naofumi asked.

"Dire Wolf Brains!" - He happily answered - "And they belonged to alphas, so they're the best ones you can get!"

"...How exactly is this going to help us?"

Itsuki clicked his tongue - "Just absorb them with your weapons and you'll see!"

"Alright then." - Naofumi said after shrugging. He honestly stopped caring at this point. Anything to make himself stronger.

He reached inside the sack and with his bare hand he pulled out one brain. It was small, pinkish in color, and covered in blood. Truly a disgusting sight.

Without any emotions on his face he moved it closer to his shield's green gem. The shield almost instantly absorbed it with a flash of green.

**_Wolf Pack Shield - unlocked_**

**_Agility_**

**_Speed_**

**_Passive: Improved communication with party members._**

"'Improved communication'? What does that mean?"

"Oh! It's the best thing out there! I'll show you, just accept my request."

"Your wha-...? Oh." - He has been cut short by an announcement popping up on his 'HUD', that read:

**_Itsuki Kawasumi [Bow Hero] has invited you to his party._**

**_Accept?_**

**_[Yes] [No]_**

After clicking [yes] his 'HUD' was updated with a very familiar fragment.

"...Is that... _text chat_?" - He questioningly asked.

**_Itsuki:_** **"Yeah!"** \- was displayed in the corner of his 'screen'.

"Wait, you mean like an actual text chat from video games?" - Ren asked while grabbing a brain of his own.

**_Wolf Pack Sword - unlocked_**

**_Ren: "Is this working?"_**

**_Itsuki: "Yes!"_**

"That's extremely convenient. Good job figuring this out, Itsuki." - Ren congratulated.

"Ehh, it's nothing..." - he answered while twirling his hair.

"Umm... Guys..." - Motoyasu's weak voice

They turned to him, noticing that he was looking away from the blood sack, but was pointing his spear at it. - "Can one of you help me absorb it? I refuse to touch it."

Itsuki scratched the back of his head and chuckled. Naofumi shook his head with a soft smile, while Ren rolled his eyes and decided to assist their less gore-resistant friend.

**_Wolf Pack Spear - unlocked_**

"So anyway, how are you doing guys?" - Itsuki asked, causing the other three to lower their heads.

"Not too good..." - Naofumi said, making Itsuki raise one of his eyebrows.

"W-What do you mean?"

"Naofumi's been framed with a crime he never commited." - Ren bluntly said, making Itsuki raise his other eyebrow.

"C-Crime? What? Who would even want to frame him? We are the legendary hereos! ...or something... What crime is it even?"

"Rape." - Ren once again answered in the most blunt way possible, causing Naofumi to look at him with a frown.

Itsuki stared at them for a moment, until he sighed and looked at them with disappointed expression.

"Guys. The point of a joke is to be funny, and this is not funny at all."

Naofumi lowered his head and smiled a bit.

"No, Itsuki, it's all for real, that girl that decided to become my party member did it only so that she could frame me later on."

"You mean that red-haired chick?"

"Yes, that red-haired slut." - Naofumi said while thinking about the woman in question, dark thoughts returning to his mind.

"... Damn, man, that sucks. Were you only accused or were you already found guilty?"

"The king found him guilty and said that to avoid punishment he will have to fight in a duel of sorts." - Motoyasu joined in on the conversation.

"Wait, you mean like, duel to death and if you win you are innocent?"

"Yeah, something like that."

Itsuki facepalmed.

"Good grief, of course these medieval idiots would come up with something like this..."

"That's exactly what I've been saying!" - Ren said while pointing at the archer.

"Wait, when did the trial even took place?"

"This morning, you completely missed it."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah, we are coming back from it right now."

"Oh crap! Sorry I wasn't there with you guys!"

"Ehh, doesn't matter, the trial was staged anyway." - Naofumi waved it off.

"Really? So the judge was corrupted? This is so... _unjust_"

"Actually, the king himself was the judge, also, I think he is Myne's father."

"What?" - Motoyasu

"No way." - Itsuki.

"Wait, really?" -Naofumi.

Ren looked at them while frowning.

"She literally called him 'father' during the trial, weren't you listening?"

"Ahh, sorry, I was too confused to even listen." - Motoyasu.

"...And I was too fucking pissed at the moment, my mind was occupied by visions of me murdering that bitch." - Naofumi said, causing the other three to look at him weirdly. - "... Wait, but that would mean that she's the princess of this country..."

"Yes. Indeed it does." - Ren said with a slow tone, as if a teacher was explaining something obvious to his student.

"HAH! Well then GG! I ain't saving a country that is destined to be ruled over by that bitch! Fuck that! I almost feel bad for its citizens."

"Well, since they treated you so poorly I guess it's only fair..." - Itsuki agreed - "... But that makes me think, do you think that 'waves' are only Merlomarc's problem, or is it more world-wide?"

"What do you mean?"- Curious Ren asked.

"Well, surely Merlomarc isn't the only country in this world, right?"

"...Other countries..." - Ren whispered while grabbing his chin - "... I didn't even think of that..."

"Guys!" - Motoyasu interrupted, gaining everyone's attention - "Yeah, all of that is cool and all, but right now we have a problem to take care of! We need to make Naofumi stronger before his duel!"

"Oh, right, but how is he even gonna fight with only a shield?" - Itsuki innocently asked, but the furious glare that Naofumi gave him in response made him shut up.

"I'll... manage... somehow." - Naofumi said.

"O-Okay? Sorry?"

"Itsuki." - Ren started

"Yeah?"

"You reached level 11 in one day, what did you do exactly?"

"Well, I was just stealing my party's kills, if I have to be honest, but they are all already high level so it's not like they didn't like it or anything. Also, you can level up fast only to level 10, after that it becomes muuuuch slower."

"Hmm... So at the very bare minimum we would want to bring Nao to level 10 before the fight... But what if Malty will choose someone with like, i dunno, level 50 or something? How does level scaling work in this world?"

"My party said that low-level monsters can still kill high-level adventurers if they are not careful, so I think Naofumi would still have a chance."

"So what? All I have to do is to just grind monsters all night long?" - Naofumi asked to make sure.

Itsuki widened his eyes and started shaking his hands - "Oh nononono! You don't want that! I myself would surely die if it wasn't for my team!"

"So we need to find some companions for him?" - Motoyasu asked.

"... I don't think anyone will want to follow me though..." - Naofumi pessimistically stated.

"Well I can make some of my followers help you out this one night." - Ren offered.

"Same." - Itsuki

"Oh shit! I just remembered!" - Motoyasu panicked - "I was appointed with my party to meet at noon!"

The other three just looked at him with either disappointment or disgust on their faces.

"...Anyway..." - Ren proceeded with the conversation, ignoring Motoyasu's last sentence - "I just got an idea."

"What is it?"

"Let's have all of our teammates have a sparing match with you, one by one. Not only it would give you some idea of what you might be going against, and we'll test how does your shield perform in an actual fight."

Naofumi frowned while thinking about the offer. His decision about taking up the fight was taken while he wasn't thinking too clearly, and now that he calmed down he remembered he had no actual experience when it comes to fights.

"Well... It does sound good enough to me. So if you could get your parties to help me out, that would be great." - He said after a while.

"I already offered it, so sure." - Ren said.

"Well, I wasn't planning to do anything today anyway, so as long as my party members won't be busy then sure." - Itsuki

"Well, if the girls won't have anything against it, I don't see anything wrong with it..." - Motoyasu

"Okay then, it's settled." - Naofumi

"Let's go then." - Ren

"Oh, you mean right now?" - Itsuki

"No point in wasting anymore time." - Ren

"Yeah, we have only one day to work with, after all." - Motoyasu

"Oh... Alright then." - Itsuki

And so, they departed.

* * *

Our favorite Isekai quartet was making its way down one of the city's main streets. They walked in a line, effectively taking up almost half of the entire street's width, their gazes aimed directly ahead of them, their footsteps almost perfectly synchronized. Their collection of legendary weapons kept gaining attention of all the bystanders.

Naofumi was nervously looking around, noticing that people were looking at him weirdly. They were also whispering between themselves and some were even frowning at him. But nobody dared to do anything more than that.

_'What's their deal?'_

The rest of their short journey was very unpleasant for Naofumi, as he didn't know how to react. Thankfully his mood lighted up after reaching his favorite blacksmith's shop.

"Is that it?" - Ren asked.

"Yeah." - Motoyasu answered. - "The guy who runs this place is really nice."

"Well then what are we waiting for? Let's go." - Itsuki said and immediately entered the shop, causing the bell above the doors to ring. The other three followed him in this order: Motoyasu, Ren and Naoufmi at the end, who also closed the door behind them.

Erhard was there, right behind the counter, the moment he saw them a small frown appeared on his face.

"...You..." - He quietly said, giving Naofumi a feeling of anxiety. Ren and Itsuki didn't think too much about it, after all, they never met him earlier. Instead they took their time inspecting the rather violently looking strongman.

Motoyasu apparently didn't quite catch the mood, and proceeded to talk with a smile on his face:

"Hey, uncle! It's us again, and we brought some friends!" - he said after gesturing towards Ren and Itsuki.

"...I see..." - he responded.

"Nice to meet you, fine sir, I am Itsuki Kawa-..." - Itsuki politely started, but the smith interrupted him.

"Before that..." - The smith raised his voice and pointed towards Naofumi, causing him to raise his eyebrows. Without any words Erhard left his counter and started approaching him, confusing all the heroes in the shop. The aura he was emanating was rather intimidating, making all the heroes instinctively freeze in place.

"Erhard, w-what are yo-..." - Motoyasu started.

"Shut it for a second." - Erhard silenced him while raising his hand, without even looking at him.

With eyes widened and a mouth that was still opened Motoyasu found his lungs empty from the surprise. He did not expect that kind of attitude from the Blacksmith who seemed so nice yesterday.

Erhard got very close to Naofumi, and stood right in front of him. Naofumi had to look up if he wanted to keep looking into his eyes, since Erhard was a head and a half taller than him. The absolute muscle mountain of a man was towering over him and looking down on him with a very unfriendly face.

"W-What is it?" - anxious Naofumi asked.

"I have heard quite unpleasant rumors about you kid." - He calmly said while still frowning.

Naofumi stopped breathing for a couple of seconds, with a weird feeling of crushing in his stomach.

_'R-Rumors? ... No... Don't tell me the word has already been spread even before proving me guilty? That... THAT BITCH! It's all her doing, isn't it!? A-and of all people Erhard believed them? Erhard!? The smiling and cheerful uncle!?'_

Naofumi gritted his teeth, an unpleasant mix of anger, sadness and disappointment in his mind. He almost felt...

..._Betrayed..._

"They are all false!" - Ren protested.

"He never did anything bad! Those 'rumors' are all lies!" - Motoyasu joined him.

"His trial hasn't even ended yet." - Itsuki said what he could.

Erhard closed his eyes and sighed.

"Heroes or not, I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to Naofumi himself. So, Naofumi, tell me, what's the deal with those rumors?"

Naofumi clenched his shaking fists and swallowed his spit. Slowly he looked up to the man, and without any doubt in his almost shaking voice said those words:

"I... didn't do anything to her... she framed me, and even got her father, the king, to stage my trial. She was planning to do it from the very beginning."

Was it the lack of doubt, his serious tone, or shiny tears in his eyes what got Erhard to believe him, was a mystery. Probably a bit of all of those.

"...So, the girl that was here with you yesterday was princess Malty herself?"

_'Pfft. 'Princess' my ass! That whore belongs in the brothel!'_

"Yes..."

Erhard once again sighed and looked at the shield bearer, this time with much friendlier expression on his face.

"I did hear that she is quite a horrible person some time ago, so your story sadly isn't unbelievable. I am sorry that such a terrible thing happened to you, kid." - he said while putting his hand on his shoulder.

Naofumi's dark thoughts were like a balloon, that has suddenly been popped without a warning. He still didn't quite believe what he just heard.

"W-Wait, so you... you trust me?"

At that point Ren struck Motoyasu in his side with his shoulder and frowned at him, as if he was saying: 'See? THAT's what you do when your friend gets framed!'

"I may not have any actual proof, but I don't need any."

"W-What do you mean?"

Erhard smiled.

"Your eyes. Yesterday I saw how much joy and compassion were in them, and now I saw that there wasn't as much anger as there was sadness in them. It may sound ridiculous but you'd be surprised how good I am at seeing people by their true colors, and boy, you aren't a rapist at all. You are a young fellow who only wants to help others!"

Naofumi opened his mouth and started quietly analyzing what Erhard just said.

"T-Thank you." - he quietly said with lowered head and a soft smile.

Erhard smiled and laughed a bit, hitting the shielder in his back with an opened palm in a friendly manner, which almost caused him to collapse despite his high defense.

"Soo... happy ending?" - Unsure Itsuki asked.

"Ahh, right, you guys..." - Erhard turned to them, smiling - "Sorry for being rude earlier, I wanted to settle things out with the shield kid before properly meeting you guys. You are the sword and the bow heroes, correct?"

"Yes, correct, I am Ren Amaki, the sword hero, and this is Itsuki Kawasumi, the bow hero." - stoic Ren answered.

"Well, Ren and Itsuki, it's really nice to meet you! Being able to say that all four cardinal heroes are my customers is quite an achievement! Speaking of, what do you seek today?"

"You gave our friends some raw materials yesterday, which have significantly upgraded their legendary weapons. We would also like to ask for some, if that wouldn't be a problem."

"Some weapons to copy would also be nice." - Ituki said, Ren told him about that mechanic after they left the castle.

"Well, I don't have any new materials, so Motoyasu and Shield kid won't get anything new, and I also don't have any bows. You will have to visit the royal bow makers for the best specimens." - he said, while looking at Itsuki at the very end of his sentence.

"That's understandable, but I can still absorb the same raw materials as others."

"If that's the case then sure, I'll bring some for the two of you. In the meantime, why won't the four of you look around for some armor maybe? Your sets don't seem complete."

"What do you mean?" - Ren asked.

"What? You aren't even wearing any helmets! I know that adventurers often ditch them altogether, but dying to something as silly as a random rock that has been thrown at your head is quite an embarrassing way to go, don't you think?" - he said with a smirk.

The heroes found themselves at a loss of words, truth is, that they truly have been neglecting the need of a helmet, because it didn't seem hero-like enough to them. Now that someone whom they actually respected pointed it out to them all four of them started feeling quite embarrassed.

Seeing their reaction Erhard laughed and left them alone.

* * *

Two hours have passed. After finishing shopping at Erhard's each of the offensive heroes went for their respective parties to tell them about the current situation and the sparring idea. Nobody had any real objections so they all left the capital's walls and went to the fields.

Naofumi was the first one to get there, and patiently waited for the others. After a couple minutes of waiting others have finally arrived, with a combined number of eleven of their followers.

_'They have so many people... Why couldn't I get at least a couple? It's just... unfair...'_

"Alright then!" - Ren raised his voice to gain everyone's attention. - "Who wants to go first?"

"I do!" - a young man from Ren's arty raised his hand. He was wearing some shiny plated armor without any emblems on it. The armor was very clean and appeared to be new. He had a short sword on his waist, and a shield on his back. Seeing someone be able to use a shield AND an actual weapon simultaneously made Naofumi clench his fists for a second, but he shook his head and decided to let it go. After all, there was no reason to hate the guy for that.

"...Oscar, was it?" - Ren asked, not really remembering everyone's name yet.

"N-no, sir, that would be my brother." - He answered with am awkward smile, while pointing at some other of Ren's party members. An identical-looking young man in a wizard's robe, with some short sword on his waist, he had a smirk on his face, amused by the fact that someone confused him with his twin brother. - "I am Daniel..." - the knight continued

They looked like they were in their twenties, had silver hair and blue eyes. Their faces looked almost identical, with the only differences being:

Daniel had a short ponytail on the back of his head, while Oscar had a scar on his right cheek, right under his eye.

If not for those two things they would surely be indistinguishable.

"Ah, right, sorry." - Ren apologized, though Naofumi could feel that he didn't really care. - "Well then, you may start."

"Wait, you mean like, right now?" - Confused Daniel asked.

Without any emotions on his face Ren looked at Naofumi, who only gave him a nod in response.

"Yes. Right now. Right here."

"Oh... Okay..." - Daniel complied and started approaching Naofumi.

"Mr. Shield Hero, it is an honor being able to spar with you." - he said with a smile.

"Before that..." - Naofumi asked with tired, almost bored voice - "...I'd like to ask you something."

"Yes?"

"When choosing a hero to follow, what made you choose Ren?" - his question caused everyone to look at him with raised eyebrows. Everyone was completely quiet, making the atmosphere very heavy.

"Ah... Well... B-But... we didn't get to choose though..." - he said, clearly confused. He also quickly turned over his shoulder to give a questioning look towards his twin brother, scared that he missed something during their talks with the king.

"You didn't?" - Naofumi raised his eyebrow.

"Well, yes, parties were pre-determined from the start. The king told us what to do."

"...So the fact that you were left out was also his doing..." - Ren said while grabbing his chin, referring to Naofumi.

"Yes, I still don't understand the purpose of that was... I just assumed that Mr. Shield hero himself asked to be left alone..."

"...Wait, you can do that?..." - Ren whispered to himself, while considering dumping his party.

Naofumi went quiet for a minute, processing everything he had just heard.

_'So, if I understand correctly, the real reason why I'm all alone is because of the trash king... ' - _he thought, after which clicked his tongue and frowned with anger once he realised - _'Motherfucker! He really was planning to frame me from the very beginning!'_

Some whispers were exchanged between the group of all the adventurers.

"...Sooo... Shall we begin?" - Daniel asked.

Naofumi looked at him. He could tell that he didn't hate him or anything. He was perfectly neutral towards him, and even gave him respect for his title of the hero.

_'So not all people here are rotten to the core as trash and bitch?'_

_..._

_***Sigh***_

"Very well, let's start. But I have to warn you." - he said while pointing his finger at him, causing him to raise one of his eyebrows - "I have absolutely ZERO combat experience, so please, go easy on me." - he said with perfectly stoic face, causing everyone in the group to either laugh or deadpan. Most people were expecting some crafty threats

After a second of having his eyes widened from confusion Daniel smiled and lowered his head.

"I'll try to be of as helpful as possible." - he said, after which he pulled out his sword and took his shield from his back.

Naofumi was getting nervous. He raised his shield and started staring into his opponent, trying to read his movements... Whatever the fuck that even meant, he was never in a proper fight before...

"You got this Nao!" - Itsuki cheered.

"Beat his ass!" - Motoyasu joined him

"Pffft..." - Ren scoffed, but after a second his neutral expression changed into a small smile, as he gave Naofumi a thumbs up.

"Hehehe..." - Daniel laughed - "Those are good friend you got there, Mr. Shield Hero.

Naofumi looked at him, and then at his fellow heroes. Once he looked at him he couldn't help but smile.

"Yes, I honestly couldn't imagine what would happen with me if it wasn't for them..." - He said with sad tone.

A world where the three offensive heroes weren't his friends. For sure they wouldn't trust him after the accusation. Nobody would defend him, nobody would support him, he would be TRULY all alone. The vision of such a world seemed so dark and sad.

"Hehehe... As my brother says, family and friends are the only things in life that truly matter. And my brother is a very smart person, so I believe him... Anyway, Mr. Shield Hero, it's time for our sparring match!"

"Yes." - Naofumi replied, although his eyes were covered by his hair, and the tone of his voice dark, he had a smile on his face.

"Well then let's begin!"

* * *

**_To be continued_**

* * *

_**Ok, so let me fricking tell you - last year at high school is no joke, I have barely any time for my hobbies, including writing, so for the time being I'll upload very rarely, sorry.**_

_**We will start next chapter with a bunch of fight scenes, and a proper introduction to all the OCs I have chosen.**_

**_(Just keep in mind that I'm an amateur writer so don't expect me to do anything too crazy with them)_**

**_Although I promised to give you two chapters at once I was not able to do both of them (again, barely any free time), so sorry._**

_**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**_

_**Cya!**_


	5. 5 - Mixed Emotions

Motoyasu was sitting on the ground, under a tree, with Ren and Itsuki on both of his sides. Together, they were watching Naofumi's mock fight… Although, one couldn't even call it that.

What was happening in front of them was just… _sad_.

Daniel, a young knight in Ren's group was one of the few people deemed worthy becoming a cardinal hero's follower, and he certainly proved it right here and there, as he was basically toying with Naofumi.

Granted, there wasn't much that Naofumi could do in the first place, as his only weapon was a shield. Daniel, on the other hand, was using both a shield and a sword. Add to that the fact that Naofumi, just like all others, didn't have any fighting experience, and you're starting to see the problem.

It wasn't all that bad though, as Daniel was kind enough to try teaching Naofumi the basics of combat on the fly.

"Bend your knees a little. You should be constantly on the move when dueling someone." - Daniel said while pointing his sword at the shielder, side-stepping around him.

"...Yeah…" - Naofumi said with tired voice. He squinted his eyes, looking at his opponent, and started side-stepping in the opposite direction, effectively making them both walk in a circle, looking at each other.

"Good. Keep in mind that your shield is both your defense and your offense. Hold it high, covering as much of your body as possible."

Naofumi wordlessly complied, raising his shield in order to cover his torso, and grabbing it with his second hand to get a better grip. He had a small frown on his face, and wasn't taking his eyes off of his newly gained teacher. It was clear that he was determined.

Seeing that resolve, Daniel smirked and dashed forwards, kicking the dust off of the ground he was standing on. He had so much speed Naofumi's eyes widened, but he quickly frowned again, and braced for impact.

His eyes never looked away from his opponent's sword, that was already coming in his direction. He was quick enough to react to it, raising his shield, and deflecting the blow to the side.

"Not bad!..." - Daniel congratulated.

It was at this moment Naofumi's eyes returned back to him, and widened once again once he saw a big heap of metal closing in on him, from his right side.

"OUCH!" - Motoyasu exclaimed in his place. It looked quite painful from their perspective.

The heap of metal connected, hitting him in his right side, and knocking him back a solid couple meters. Naofumi hissed and grabbed his aching side. He felt as if someone punched him in his ribs, which, seeing as it was not a punch but a big heap of iron, was actually a laughably low amount of pain. He raised his face to look at Daniel, who had his shielded arm extended forwards.

So it was his shield that he attacked him with.

"...But keep in mind I have _two_ arms. You were focusing too much on my sword, which was a mistake. You have to pay attention to _all_ of your opponent. Both their arms. Both their legs. Hell, sometimes even their mouth if they are a mage! You can't keep tunnel visioning like that."

As Naofumi cracked his neck and straightened up again, he once again raised his shield. A small smirk appeared on his face.

"...Yeah…"

The three other heroes, who were still observing from the side, had donned rather anxious expression, as each of them realized that they probably wouldn't do much better than their friend. Itsuki in particular couldn't take it anymore, and stood up to his feet.

"I'll be leaving for a while, just message me if you'll need me."

"Where're you going?"

"Castle's training grounds, I'm gonna practise archery."

"Oh. Okay, see you then."

As Itsuki departed, Ren also got up.

"This is inefficient."

"What?" - Motoyasu raised his eyebrow.

"Standing on the side and watching like idiots. We should do something too."

"You think so?"

Ren looked at Motoyasu with bored expression and crossed arms. After a short while, he released a sigh of disappointment.

"...What?"

Ren looked back at him, grabbing his shoulders, his blue eyes flicking with determination.

"We need to get as strong as possible, as soon as possible. Not just Naofumi, but also the three of us."

"...Ah, right…" - Motoyasu agreed, but Ren wasn't finished yet. He strengthened his grip, and looked him straight in the eyes, making him feel quite uncomfortable to say the least.

"Itsuki has the highest level of us, and he's just 11. Meanwhile an average soldier here is above 30! Hell, some basic _mobs_ in the forest have higher levels than any of us! Do you understand that!?"

"Huh!? Y-yeah, I get it!" - Motoyasu responded while trying to release himself from his friend's grip.

However, Ren shook him a bit, and continued: "Think, Motoyasu! What's the best EXP grinding method you know!?"

"Uhh.. uhhh… Well, off the top of my head I can recall that in _Emerald Online_ at one point if you had a high-level friend who took an enemy leagues above you to 1 hp and let you land the final blow you would get all the EXP and level up crazy. They fixed it though."

Ren stopped shaking him, and grabbed his chin with one of his hands, with his other one still grabbing shoulder. "Hmm… In _Brave Star Online _experience was shared equally amongst everyone in the party, which wouldn't be as effective as that, but still good enough. And since there aren't really any 'game developers' here then maybe this 'exploit' is still doable…"

"Y-yeah…" - Motoyasu said while deadpanning. - "...Can you let me go?"

As Ren wordlessly let go of him, he activated his menu, and turned on the newly gained text chat option. "I'll ask Itsuki too."

_**Ren: Yo, Kawasumi, what was the best EXP grinding method in Dimension Wave?"**_

After only a couple of seconds waiting, he got his response.

_**Itsuki: Kill stealing. The one who lands the finishing blow always got the most EXP, that's how I levelled up so quickly here.**_

_**Ren: K**_

"What did he say?"

"Apparently your method does indeed work."

"Oh… Neat, I guess..."

"Well, looks like everything comes to one: We need to have our parties weaken some strong monsters and then finish them off."

"I guess…"

As Motoyasu agreed, Ren was still looking at the text chat, or, to be more precise, the list of people that were in that "chat group".

_**Ren Amaki (Sword Hero) - LV.4**_

_**Itsuki Kawasumi (Bow Hero) - LV.11**_

_**Motoyasu Kitamura (Spear Hero) - LV.7**_

_**Naofumi Iwatani (Shield Hero) - LV.2**_

A grimace of disappointment appeared on his face after seeing just how far behind he was behind both Itsuki and Motoyasu. Out of all people, _Motoyasu_ had higher level than him. It was then when he got a new idea.

"Hey, Motoyasu."

"What again?"

"In that dungeon you went to or whatever, were you stealing your party's kills too?"

"Umm… _Well..._. I tried contributing to the fight as much as possible, though I have to admit girls usually did most of the work. Funny that, actually. My first instinct was to protect them all, but in the end they were the ones who protected _me._ I should probably repay them somehow. Do you think I should buy them something?"

"If you want to repay them, just grow strong so that you will be the one doing the protecting."

"Well I'm going to do that regardless, but I still think they deserve some sort of a gift. You think they like chocolates?"

As idiotic as that sounded to Ren, that made him think:

"..._Do they even have chocolate here_?" - he said aloud, but he quickly shook his head and frowned. - "This isn't what we should be thinking about now!"

"_Watch out!"_ \- a loud cry interrupted their conversation, followed by a sound that was reminiscent of someone shouting their lungs out, closing in. As Ren quickly turned around his eyes shot wide open in shock, when he noticed a big object approaching him at high speed.

There was no time to react for him, and just like that, the object rammed into him with all of its momentum, sending him flying a couple of meters back and pinning him to the ground.

"Holy shit! Guys, are you alright!?" - Motoyasu, who had been lucky enough to just barely not be hit as well, cried out to them.

"Tsk." "Ughh…" - After coming back to his senses, Ren noticed that the object on top of him was none other than Naofumi himself, laying on top of him, crushing him and preventing him from breathing normally. "_What the f…."_ \- He grunted from below him. "_S-Shiiit…"_ \- was Naofumi's only reply. It looked like he got hit quite hard.

"...M-my apologies.." - Ren heard a voice. He moved his eyes to look at the person that spoke up. It was Daniel's twin brother, Oscar, who was standing a couple of meters away from them, with his hands illuminated with some blue light. Ren quickly guessed that when he was busy talking with Motoyasu, Naofumi's trainer changed. "I-It appears that I overestimated Shield Hero's defense…" - Oscar said with anxious voice.

As the rest of the supporting parties felt silent, Ren managed to crawl out of under Naofumi.

"...Once again, please forgive me, Cardinal Heroes." - Oscar apologized again, this time, to all of them.

Ren started slowly getting up, about to disregard it as nothing important, but Naofumi's response stopped him from doing so.

"Heh… hah… Hah… HAHAHA!" - Naofumi started laughing his lungs out.

Whereas a big portion of the crew started looking at him with confused expressions, some of them soon joined him, laughing with him. The tension went away as they laughed together, even Motoyasu joined.

But not Ren.

Why?

Motoyasu probably didn't notice this one small detail, but Ren certainly did. That wasn't the way Naofumi laughed normally. Right now he was laughing louder than ever before, which, in a twisted sense, made Ren a little bit anxious.

* * *

Itsuki entered the training grounds for the castle's archers while wearing his brown cloak, and his face hidden underneath his hood, as he didn't want to attract too much attention, given his status.

"You there! Halt!" - Unfortunately for him, one of the guards called out to him after noticing him - "Access to this area is restricted! Show your identity!"

While a bit frustrated, Itsuki sighed and turned around to face the guard, taking his hood off.

"Good, now let me use check your identity…" - the guard said while touching the side of his forehead with his pointing finger, focusing his eyes on Itsuki's face.

_**Itsuki Kawasumi (Bow Hero) - LV.11**_

"_Oh my…" - _the guard's eyes shot open after reading it _\- "P-Please forgive me, oh great Hero!"_ \- he practically shouted with apologetic tone while bowing his head in front of him.

"H-hey!" - Itsuki said with a small frown, while putting his hand on the guy's shoulder - "It's okay, I just want to practice shooting without any ruckus, so please don't tell about this to anyone."

"_R-right! As you wish, my lord! The training grounds are all yours!"_ \- nervous guard said while bowing his head again.

"_Thank you."_ \- Itsuki said while giving him a small smile.

"_I'll stand on guard and warn you when anybody will be coming, Bow Hero-sama!"_

Itsuki's smile remained, but now also got mixed in with a deadpan. "That's… - " He couldn't even finish that sentence, as the guard already run off to his spot. " - ..._unnecessary"_

And that was exactly why Itsuki didn't like people recognising him. They always started treating him like a living demigod or something. Given that he was never really popular at his high school, that was a _huge_ jump.

Regardless, he approached the shooting range and hanged his cloak on a stand for bows that happened to be nearby, filled with simple training bows, and quivers of wooden arrows. His own bow was now exposed, hanging on his back. He took it in his arms and inspected the weapon.

Before coming to this world, he never even held an actual bow in his hands. However, he _had_ occasionally played _Brave Star Online_ with Ren, and since it was a VR game, he had to _actually_ aim his bow in it. It looked like it really paid off though, as it was the only reason why he didn't come in completely blind on using the holy weapon that was chosen for him.

He extended his left arm with the bow in it forwards, and grabbed the string with his right one. the Holy Bow's yellow gem shined, and soon enough yellow light emerged from within, taking up a shape of an arrow, that automatically placed itself between his fingers on the string.

He took a deep breath in, and pulled the string, that now also started shining like a yellow neon. He took aim, with his arms being a little bit twitchy. By using his HUD's built-in ping system he was able to see the exact distance between him and the target circle without needing to guess. With that knowledge he adjusted the angle of his aiming slightly.

He proceeded to slowly release the breath that he was holding in all this time. He started feeling his own heart's beats, and now waited to fit in a gap in between them.

'_NOW!'_

"_Bow Hero-sama!"_

The guard's call threw him off-guard on the exact moment he released the string, causing him to flinch a bit. The arrow flew with a distinct pitch while cutting through air itself, leaving a yellow tracer behind it. Not even a second later, the arrow struck the cobblestone wall behind the target, flying just over it.

"_...Yes?"_ \- Itsuki asked, frustrated, but still trying to remain calm.

"Some people are coming here! Two of them are high-ranking officers!"

"...I see…"

It wasn't like it was the end of the world if anybody saw him here, but Itsuki wanted to avoid any unnecessary ruckus all over who he was. He looked to his side, at the stand with training bows and his cloak on it. Since his leather armor was borrowed straight out of the guard armory, he looked like one of the low-ranking soldiers himself. His bow was the only thing extraordinary here. He looked at it, then at the training bows, and then back at his own one again. He smirked once an idea came to his mind.

_**Training Bow - unlocked.**_

_**ATT +1**_

_**RANGE -5**_

His bow now looked almost identically to the ones on the stand, with the only difference being the yellow gem imbed in its handle.

'_Now they shouldn't even bat an eye on me!'_ \- he thought, and returned to his shooting.

And just as he did, he heard some people's loud voices getting closer and closer. He couldn't quite pick up the exact words yet, but it seemed like they were arguing over something.

"_...I can't just do nothing when this bastard is still out there, unpunished! Hero or not, I don't care!"_

"_Calm yourself! You might not be a part of it, but majority of people here worship them as gods!"_

"_Even if said 'god' is literally RAPING THE PRINCESS!?"_

"_Trust me, everyone despises him just as much as you do. In fact, Shield Hero in particular had always been seen as more of a 'Devil' than 'God' within their religion. The only reason why he hadn't been executed yet is because our world's future depends on it."_

"_So what? Will he get away with it because of that?"_

"_No, the king had decided that he will take part in the duel of gods."_

"_WHAT!?" _

The last shout was followed by a loud sound of stone being crushed. This caused Itsuki to turn over his shoulder to finally look at the people he was eavesdropping on. There were three of them. One of them had the other pressed up against the wall, with his fist buried inside the freshly made hole in the cobblestone, right next to the other one's head. The aggressor was wearing a chainmail and a cape with Merlomarc's crest on it, as well as a sword on each of his hips. He also had short and messy red hair, but since he was facing away from him, Itsuki couldn't see his face. Based on his voice though, he was probably in his early twenties.

The other man looked a bit older, his long and curly silvery hair made him appear almost feminine in fact, but his voice was enough to identify him as a male. Also, instead of wearing armor, the silver-haired one was wearing robes that looked like he was more of a noble than a knight.

"_You're telling me that he has a chance to completely avoid even being deemed guilty!?"_

The silver-haired man frowned and looked back at him, not moved in the slightest at the violent display. The third person was the first to do anything. He was an adult, huge in size, wearing heavy plated armor, and a black cloak on top of it. His face was rough and had a couple of scars on it. His hair short, black, and spiky. Itsuki could also see a handle of a giant bastard sword that was hanged on his back.

The giant man grabbed the young aggressor's extended arm, visibly causing him pain even all the way from where Itsuki stood.

"_If you care so much for her…" - _he said with a deep voice while looking straight into his eyes _\- "...Then go fight for her sake. I heard she is still looking for a representative, and your level is pretty high, isn't it?"_

"_A representative? But what if this shield basta - …"_

His sentence was cut short by the silver haired man putting his hand over his mouth, and nodding towards the direction where Itsuki stood. He quickly turned his head back to the targets, but it was too late. It wasn't long until he heard a loud sound of footsteps approaching, and metallic clanks. It looked like it was the giant one coming close. Although Itsuki didn't really have a reason to get anxious, he couldn't help but gulp.

"Hey kid." - the man calmly said to him while standing behind him. - "How about you focus on training instead of eavesdropping, huh?"

"R-right…" - Itsuki nervously responded with an awkward smile.

"Here." - the man said while putting his hand on Itsuki's shoulder, which caused him to jump in place. He looked at the man, and raised his eyebrow after seeing what the man wanted to give to him. It was one of those quivers with wooden arrows from the stand.

Itsuki was speechless for a second or two, given as he didn't need them, but realisation was quick to hit him, and he realised that that man didn't know that.

"T-thanks…" - he said and took the quiver regardless of the fact that he didn't need it. He attached it to his belt, and pulled out one of the arrows, putting it on the bow. To his surprise, there wasn't any negative reaction from the weapon.

'_Huh? Looks like I'm not limited to arrows that the bow produces, good to know, I guess…'_

"You gotta forgive us for that ruckuss, Sam takes the current situation on a very personal level."

"_Sam?"_

"What? You don't know him? Heh, he always brags about being super popular, are you new here or what?"

"Y-yes, I'm a fresh recruit."

"I see. Well, _Samuel_ is his full name, and he's the head of the princess' personal guard. He blames himself for what happened."

Itsuki wanted to say something against it, to protect Naofumi's name, but he held his tongue in. He didn't even really know why, it was just a random shot of anxiety he experienced from time to time. '_Think Itsuki! What would Ren do?... Probably he'd just play along to get as much info as possible.'_

"And… uhh… what happened?"

The man looked at him with eyebrows raised in surprise. "Really? You gotta be really oblivious to not know what is going on lately."

"I… uhh.. I heard that the legendary heroes were summoned recently, does it have to do anything with them?"

"...Yes, actually…" - the man said while giving Itsuki a soul-piercing stare.

'_Please don't scan. Please don't scan. Please don't scan.' _\- Itsuki kept repeating in his mind while a drop of sweat appeared on his forehead, referring to the status magic.

The big man sighed. - "...Apparently the shield hero had been accused of raping the princess."

Itsuki didn't know if he could successfully act out being surprised, so instead of saying anything he remained silent.

"Speechless? Well, so was most people. The king even ordered to organise a duel of gods to solve this matter. But it won't change anything."

"How so? Doesn't the duel of gods have the power to deem the victor innocent?"

The man gave him a look of pity. "Heh… you must be pretty naive to believe that."

"...huh?"

"Even if he'll win, his reputation is already ruined. Rumors spread here fast, and the people here are like hyenas just waiting for someone to fall in order prey on them. Funny that, people here like to discriminate demi-humans because they are closer to animals, but in reality they themselves aren't any better. They won't just make a 180 turn and stop hating that shield."

Itsuki took his time to deconstruct this sentence in his mind. It was a rather pessimistic message, and was successful in making Itsuki worry for his friend. He looked down and clenched his fists. _Is this really how this world works? _

"What about you? Do you think he did it?" - Itsuki asked him with his eyes still looking at the ground.

"Huh? … Me?" - the man raised his eyebrow. - "...I couldn't care less. It's not really my business…"

They stood in silence for a while, atmosphere between them very heavy.

The man looked at the targets, and noticed that Itsuki hadn't even fired even a single arrow yet.

"Well anyway, sorry for wasting your time." - he said while reaching his hand behind his back - "I guess I should repay you somehow."

Itsuki looked at him with, surprised. "What do you mean?" - he asked.

"I'll teach you a thing or two." - the man replied while pulling out some sort of a crossbow from behind his back.

"Uhh… Thanks… uhh…"

The man smirked at him.

"_Name's Guts."_

* * *

"So you're telling me that you spent the entire morning training you asses off to prepare the Shield Kid for his duel tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Okay… but… Why did you come _here_ of all places?"

"Sorry, Erhard, we just don't have anywhere else to go." - Ren replied to the blacksmith while sitting on the chairs that he got for them. Motoyasu was sitting beside him, and both of them were covered in sweat gained from the mentioned training, as it wasn't as if Naofumi was the only one who participated in it.

"Well… I'm not gonna throw you guys out… but… _you could_ _at least buy something…"_

In response to that, Motoyasu put down two coins on the counter. "Two glasses of water then."

Erhard looked at the coins, then at Motoyasu, then at Ren, then back at Kitamura.

"_IT'S NOT A RESTAURANT YOU SHITTER!"_

They looked at each other for a short while with straight faces, but after a short while Motoyasu just couldn't take it and snorted.

"Relax, _I'm joking."_ \- he said with an apologetic smile while taking his two coins back.

Erhard frowned at for a second, but then shook his head and sighed in defeat. "Whatever, I guess… But at least tell me where is the Shield kid himself?"

"He said he left some of his stuff back at the inn and wanted to get it back. He's been gone for a while now so I think he should be back soon." - Ren said while still sitting on his chair. Actually, he got so comfortable on it he was practically _laying_ on it.

"I see… And what about the little archer?"

"He's been gone almost all day, he said he wanted to practice archery but knowing him I wouldn't be surprised if he went solo levelling in the forest or something…"

"Yeah, he'd always been impatient about things… Though still not nearly as much as you, Ren."

"_Oh shut it…_"

And thus, an awkward silence took over the shop for a solid minute or two, which gave all the people inside a chance to remember just how shitty their situation was. That silence remained until a familiar bell rung, signaling the shop's door opening. Everyone looked at the opened door, and the figure standing in it. There he was, Naofumi himself. Still in his casual clothes from their world, and a lowered head, staring at the ground beneath him.

"W-What's wrong Nao? Did something happen?" - Motoyasu asked with a worried expression on his face.

Ren wanted to say something too, but he wasn't very good at dealing with feelings. Be it someone else's or even his own , he opted for a safer option of asking if Naofumi's objective had been completed.

"Did you get your stuff?"

"No." - Naofumi emptily replied.

"What happened, kiddo?" - Erhard also started worrying, and fetched him a third chair to sit on next to the other two.

Naofumi nodded as a sign of thankfulness, and proceeded to sit on it. After doing so, he grabbed his head and rested his elbows on his knees. "_It's all gone."_

"W-what do you mean?"

"I don't know, but I think someone stole it… My room was all ravaged and scavenged of anything i left there."

"What? In broad daylight!? How?"

"_The Guards…"_ \- Erhard said, gaining everyone's attention. - "_..._It's basically common knowledge that some guards like to ransack homes of arrested suspects, even if they haven't been proven guilty yet."

"Wait… You mean they just took all of Naofumi's shit after arresting him and nobody stopped them?" - Motoyasu said with disbelief in his voice. - "...Shouldn't the innkeepers have done something about that?"

"Against a group of armed guards? What do you think they _could_ do?"

"W-well…" - Motoyasu's frown disappeared after realising that there really wasn't much an old couple that run the said inn could do about that.

"_Actually…"_ \- Naofumi spoke while straightening in his chair, causing everyone look back at him - "...They didn't even want to let me in at first. I had to basically start begging them to let me at least take a look."

"What!? Why!?" - Motoyasu said those words, intrigued. Ren and Erhard however, looked to the side, already suspecting what was going on.

Naofumi chuckled and grabbed his head once again. "_They said criminals weren't welcome there…"_

"_THE HELL!?_ Your trial is still on! They shouldn't say things like that yet! … Ugh.. I mean They should never say that _at all!"_

Naofumi weakly chuckled at his friend's little mistake in wording despite of the crippling feeling of anxiety dwelling inside him. "_It appears they didn't care."_

"...B-but why?"

"Really, Motoyasu?" - Ren said, not being able to stay quiet anymore. - "...You're supposed to be the eldest of us and yet you still have the mindset of a preschooler."

"...huh?"

While Naofumi menaged to chuckle again, Ren sighed in defeat. "...Even back in our world, an accusation of rape, even a completely false one, is enough to ruin a man's life."

"_Thanks Ren."_ \- Naofumi sarcastically stated with a tired and defeated tone. - "_Yup, looks like I'm a rapist now…"_

"Don't even say that!" - Motoyasu yelled at him while grabbing both of his shoulder and shaking him up a bit. - "You can't just let them get to your head like that! You gotta remain yourself!"

"Nice one-eighty." - Ren sarcastically complemented, and then turned back to Naofumi. - "But still, he has a point."

Naofumi looked at the both of them, and smiled under his nose. - "Thanks, but as I am right now I have no chance of even winning my own fights. I'm at a loss before even getting a chance to fight in here… I lost my equipment too…"

"You mean they took the armor set you bought from me?" - Erhard asked.

A slight nod drenched in feeling of shame was Naofumi's only answer.

"I see…" - Erhard said while grabbing his chin - "...This is a truly grave matter…"

"And that's _on top_ of the fact that i can't even use any _real_ weapons, and that levelling by myself is nigh-impossible."

A moment of silence and anxiety took over the shop.

"Heh…" - Naofumi's short laugh interrupted it - "...Hey, Motoyasu…"

"Y-yeah?" - Motoyasu twitched on his chair and turned over to face his friend again, ready to hear out what he needed.

"It feels bad asking you this after declaring i wanted to fight by myself, but do you think you could take my place?" - Naofumi threw his pride away and asked, feeling an incredibly high amount of shame, as if he just gave up on one of his biggest dreams.

"..S-sure! Of course i will!" - Motoyasu declared with determination while rapidly getting up off of his chair, almost knocking it down in the process, and putting his hand on his chest, as if he just vowed something.

"...Tha-…" - Naofumi wanted to express his gratitude, but Ren's loud groan interrupted him.

"Ughh!" - he exclaimed on his chair, after which he grabbed Motoyasu's shoulder. "W-wha?" Ren pulled it downwards, forcing Motoyasu to sit back down, while simultaneously getting up himself. "I won't let you give up so easily!" - he shouted at Naofumi's face.

Naofumi was taken aback by the sudden reaction, tilting backwards in his chair. "W-weren't you the one who said that me fighting by myself was a bad idea!?" - he responded with tone that was half-angered and half-saddened. - "Motoyasu at least can deal some real damage!"

Ren frowned at him for a second, but instead of starting another argument like earlier this day, he instead grabbed him by his shoulders.

"Naofumi."- he said in a calm voice.

Naofumi's frown disappeared, as he looked at his friend's face.

"Damage. Health Points. Levels…" - Ren continued - "...Those are all just numbers. At the end of the day what really matters is one's skill and fighting spirit. You heard it from Itsuki, right? Low level monsters can still kill high level adventurers, right?"

"Y-yeah…" - Naofumi absently replied as he listened to those words.

"Equipment? We'll just go and fetch you some from castle's armory! You'll fight them with their own weapons!"

"_I think you mean armor, Ren_." - Motoyasu quietly butted in while raising a finger.

"Shut up." - Ren quickly silenced him, but then returned to Naofumi.

"YOU. WILL. WIN." - Ren stated with emotionless face and voice, as if he was saying an obvious fact.

"B-but i still lack any sort of skill!" - Naofumi tried to refute, his face once again gaining an angry expression.

"Then what are you sitting here for!?" - Ren shouted at his face, after which he pulled him with all of his strength, pulling him out of his chair, and then threw him towards the shop's exit. "Let's go grind some levels then! Itsuki was able to get to 11th level in one night! What makes us worse!?"

"W-wait, _us!?_"

"Yeah, we ALL are going. It's not like you're the only one who needs to level up!"

"B-but we can't fight together, there's the e-...!"

"The experience gain penalty, I know. We'll just fight one at a time."

"S-so you want to 'grind' all night!?"

"Even longer if we'll have to!" - Ren confidently stated. - "... Motoyasu!"

"Y-yeah?"

"Go get Itsuki and our respective crews!"

"N-now?"

"Yes! Now! Go!"

"A-alright!" - Motoyasu said while storming out of the shop without much thinking.

"You too!" - Ren now shouted at Naofumi while pushing him towards the exit.

"A-alright, jeez, calm down for fuck's sake!" - flabbergasted Naofumi complied and started slowly going towards the exit with lowered head while still analyzing what just happened here.

'_Now that I think about it, Daniel was pretty high level, and it didn't look like he was holding back too much, yet his attacks still caused me very little pain… Maybe Ren really is right and I have a chance?'_

"Oi. Nao." - Ren, now once again calm, spoke up.

"Y-yeah?" - Naofumi asked while turning over his shoulder to look at him.

"You. Will. Win."

Naofumi smiled slightly, and clenched his fist.

"I guess… I should at least try my best." - he declared, and then exited the shop, leaving only Ren and Erhard inside.

Ren, now left by himself, looked down on the floor.

'_I just shouted out all this nonsense…'_

He raised his head, and looked at his reflection in the shop's glass window.

'_...But I don't really believe in this…'_

…

"Oi, sword kid." - Erhard called out to him.

"Y-yes?" - Ren woke up from his thoughts and looked at the blacksmith.

"Hunting monsters at night can be dangerous." - Erhard said with crossed arms

"We don't really have any choice though." - Ren apathetically stated.

Erhard however, shook his head. - "I'm not going to stop you. I just wanted to tell you to take care of yourselves."

"Ah, right… Thanks, i guess…"

"And don't forget to get some healing potions!."

"Yeah. Sure"

"And listen to your crew members! They must have more experience than all of you combined!"

"Yeah, yeah. We know! Anything else?"

"Just… Don't die."

Ren rolled his eyes and opened the exit door.

"That's the plan." - he said while getting out of the shop.

…

After a short while, Erhard sighed and shook his head a little.

'_These kids really are reckless, huh?…'_

Now left all alone, Erhard looked at the three chairs that he got for the three young cardinal heroes. He picked them all up and carried them to his backroom.

'_They remind me of…'_

He placed the chairs down, next to the hatch that lead to the building's basement. This building wasn't just Erhard's shop, as it also doubled as his house. The top floor was where his bedroom was, the back room he was in also doubled as a kitchen, as indicated by a now extinguished fireplace and a couple of kettles lying around. His actual forge was outside, in the backyard, and below the building was a basement that served as a storage room for all of his materials and equipment for sale that wasn't on display.

'_Hmph… So the shield kid lost his armor, huh?' - _Erhard thought, and opened the hatch.

A stone staircase leading into the darkness was what was below the ground level. Erhard took a lantern that always stood next to the hatch, and set it ablaze with the help of the lit candles that were in the candlesticks on each the backroom's walls. And with that, he departed below.

'_I think I've got something perfect for him.'_

* * *

_**So uhh... It's been a while, hasn't it?**_

_**I could write an entire essay on why I wasn't uploading but like... who cares.**_

_**The bottom line is, I simply wasn't able to.**_

_**Simply writing a fic really isn't that hard - writing something GOOD, or at least something you yourself are satisfied with - that's a different story.**_

_**Regardless, rather than rant about my personal issues how about I rant about the fic itself, huh?**_

* * *

_**1\. Shield Hero world.**_

* * *

_**It's also not as if I did completely NOTHING during all this time, I actually learned quite a lot about Shield Hero (Special thanks to guys at shield hero discord) **_

_**The biggest thing I always got wrong was the concept of holy weapons:**_

_**]]**_

_**Here's what I thought they worked like:**_

_**-weapon absorbs material**_

_**-weapons analises it and finds its special properties**_

_**-weapon creates a form on the fly**_

_**]]**_

_**Meanwhile in actuality it's more like this:**_

_**-there is already a long list of predefined weapon forms that need to be unlocked with pre-selected materials**_

_**-apparently weapon will work the way its user believes it should? At least when it comes to power-ups.**_

_**]]**_

_**With that said I'm still going to keep MY version simply because... well... I prefer it. Much simpler and leaves a lot of room for creativity.**_

_**So yeah, what I really want to say is:**_

**_I'm officially stating that this fic is an AU where the whole world's game-like system is overhauled to suit my tastes._**

* * *

_**2\. OCs**_

* * *

_**A lot of you may not know this, but there was a time where I started a 'SYOC' (Submit your OC) for this fic to fill up each hero's parties. **_

_**That was... Kind of a shot in my own foot...**_

_**Still, I already promised I would include them, so going back on my word would be just... not cool.**_

_**I WILL include all those OCs I confirmed, but I will NOT focus the fic around them. At least in the early chapters, they will get very little screen time, and the only chance for me to do anything with them will come later on in the story.**_

_**Other that that, some of you may recognize certain characters that appeared in this very chapter. They come from a different work of art, but that does NOT mean that this story is suddenly a crossover - borrowing characters from other famous texts to fill up background characters is just a habit of mine.**_

* * *

_**3\. Feedback**_

* * *

**_Keep in mind I'm still a complete rookie and amateur, so feedback in reviews on what I did good/bad is heavily appreciated._**

**_Additionally, english isn't even my first language, so if you see any mistakes, please, let me know._**

**_Don't feel bad for nit-picking the smallest of stuff I may have done wrong / could have done better._**

* * *

_**4\. Shameless self-advertisement**_

* * *

_**Do you like Shield Hero?**_

_**Do you like RWBY?**_

_**Then fear not! I've got the fic just for you!**_

_**Together with a fellow writer on this site, [Pretty Lazy], we are writing a crossover fic between this two works of art!**_

_**Join Naofumi and Co. on their journey where they DON'T get isekai'd and instead are a part of RWBY's world, but still retain their holy weapons in forms of legendary semblances!**_

_**We promise action, fluff, brotherhood, drama, maaaaaybe some romance later on, and that they will NOT just follow RWBY's main cast 24/7 like some cross fics tend to do. *Cough * Cough* **My first fic on this site** *Cough * **Don't read it it's really cringe** * Cough***_

_**The fic (the good one) is called Remnant Heroes (RIMN) and I really recommend this particular one - I'm really giving my all on it, and I'm sure so does Pretty Lazy**_

* * *

_**5\. Fanarts**_

* * *

_**While stuck inside my house during the quarantine i took the time to get into a new hobby - drawing.**_

_**I always loved drawing as a kid, but ever since I finished elementary school i couldn't really find the time to develop that skill in any way.**_

_**So here I am, almost seven years later where I've recently gotten back to this hobby, re-learning it from the ground-up.**_

_**Don't get me wrong, my drawings are complete ASS compared to a lot of fanarts you can find on the internet, and I only draw basic skethes with an HB pencil i used in school.**_

_**Would any of you be interested in seeing those? If yes then on which site? I don't really know how that stuff works.**_

_**I mainly draw Shield Hero with occasional other stuff.**_

* * *

_**And with all of that said.**_

_**I hope you liked this chapter of the story.**_

_**Cya next time!**_


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